Neoscona

Neoscona
Neoscona adianta in Belgium
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Neoscona
E. Simon, 1864
Type species
N. arabesca
(Walckenaer, 1841)
Species

123, see text

Synonyms
  • Afraranea Archer, 1951
  • Chinestela Chamberlin, 1924
  • Cubanella Franganillo, 1926

Neoscona, known as spotted orb-weavers and barn spiders, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders (Araneidae) first described by Eugène Simon in 1895 to separate these from other araneids in the now obsolete genus Epeira. The name Neoscona was derived from the Greek νέω, meaning "spin", and σχοῖνος, meaning "reed". They have a mostly pantropical distribution and one species, Neoscona adianta, has a palearctic distribution. The genus has more than 100 species (see below), eight of which can be found in the United States and Canada as of April 2019.