Argiope aemula FEMALE spider of

Dorsal view of adult female Argiope aemula

Dorsal view of an adult female Argiope aemula. Weaving their webs near to the ground up to 5 feet height.

Web of yellow silk
Zigzag bands of white silk. The white patterns are called stabilimentum and reflect UV light.

Argiope aemula is brilliantly colored with silvery hair on the carapace.
The abdomen of both male and female are oval in shape.
The webs of this species are suspended vertically a meter from the ground. The habit is to sits head down in the centre of the web, and holds its legs in pairs to appear to be aligned to the four arms of the letter 'X'.
The males are dull in color (see top image) and like the females, have the habit of pairing their legs.
When mature, the genus Argiope female create the X-shaped zigzag bands of white silk in the centre of the web.

Spiders of Sabah July 20, 2017 11:16:48 PM