Araneus quadratus Araneus quadratus Araneus quadratus, the four-spot orb-weaver, is a common orb-weaver spider found in Europe and Central Asia, and as far as the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan. Females can reach 17 mm in length, especially when gravid, males approximately half that. They are quite variable in appearance, ranging from brown to bright orange or green, but they always have the characteristic four white spots on the abdomen. The darker color morphs are easiest to identify, due to the contrast between the white spots and the rest of the body. The legs are sometimes brightly striped. The spider lives in gardens,
Paradise garden traditions and later European traditions derive from that of the paradise garden. Examples of the paradise garden and its derivations are present in many of the historic gardens of Islamic and European nations. In the east, by way of the Persian garden it gave rise to the Mughal gardens of India, a late example of which is the garden of the Taj Mahal in Agra. In the farthest west, it informed the paved and tiled courtyards, arcades, and pools and fountains of Moorish Andalusia. The fundamental design of the Gardens of Versailles in France almost replicates the paradise gardens of