The radii do not run directly to a central hub as with other orb webs, but are first joined into groups of two or three before combining to meet in the middle.

While the spider is holding this thread the tension pulls the web into a conical shape, described as "like an umbrella turned inside out".

Experiments indicate the spiders are listening for prey, as they will release their webs when approached by an appropriately pitched tuning fork.

The Latin word gemmosus means "set with jewels";[4] Koch several times used the description "Perlmutter", German for "mother of pearl".

[6] Eugène Simon in 1881 recognized that Koch's and Pickard-Cambridge's species were the same and united them under the current name Theridiosoma gemmosum.