Marbled orb weavers get their name from the mottling and spotting patterns found on their bodies. They can be found in residential landscapes, fields, and forests from Spring-late Fall in Maryland. They mostly eat smaller insects, which they capture in their vertically oriented webs. A "signal thread" running through the middle of their webs alerts the spider when prey is caught. Marbled orbweavers spin their web in the morning, and typically spend the day resting in a retreat off to the side of the web.