[1][2][3][4] It is found in a range from the United States to Panama, West Indies, Galapagos Islands, and has been introduced into Hawaii.

[5] The spider is native to the continental United States, and Mexico, but has been introduced and found in places across Hawaii, the Caribbean, Middle, and South America, the Galapagos Islands, and even Oceania.

The specific name is derived from the Latin word turbo, meaning spinning top, in reference to the spider's top-shaped body and its wheel-shaped webs.

[9] Mangora gibberosa, otherwise known as the lined orbweaver, is also commonly misidentified as C. turbinata due to its similar appearance and orb-style webs.

[10] Experimental results have shown that when Cyclosa turbinata is confronted with a predator stimulus, the species shows thanatosis behavior more frequently, and for longer durations during the day.

[12] Experts agree that female C. turbinata generally starts foraging at lower levels of energy reserves during the middle of the day when predators are most abundant.

Cyclosa turbinata have been found on cotton and peanut crops, grassland pastures, on sand dunes, shrubs, pecan orchards, and various plants such as bluebonnets, croton, prickly pear, Baccharis, and Monarda citriodora.

Specifically for the female spider, they occupy the web hub, which is the center, almost continuously and conduct their sit-and-wait foraging behavior.

This behavior allows the female spiders to ensnare prey at nearly any time of day, and they only leave their spot to replace the web prior to sunrise.

[17] Since prey discrimination through interpretation of web-borne vibrations is found to not be as feasible in Cyclosa turbinata spiders,[14] Cyclosa turbinata spiders shake their webs back and forth, possibly to warn other larger animals of the webs existence in order to drive it away when they feel threatened.

[14] Statistical analysis showed that Cyclosa turbinata can adjust their strategies towards preys, including waiting time and frequency of turning.

Cyclosa turbinata is unique in that its locomotor and web-building activity cause it to have an exceptionally short-period circadian clock, about 19 hours.

These findings contradicted all previous research into circadian resonance and suggest that C. turbinata do not suffer the same costs of extreme desynchronization as do other species of animals.