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Species Argiope argentata - Silver Argiope

Silver Argiope Devouring Prey - Argiope argentata - female Spider Pair B - Male - Argiope argentata - male Egg Sac - Argiope argentata Silver argiope? - Argiope argentata spider and egg's - Argiope argentata Unknown orbweaver (Argiope argentata?) - Argiope argentata Silver Argiope from below - Argiope argentata - female Silver Argiope with Dinner - Argiope argentata
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynae)
Family Araneidae (Orb Weavers)
Genus Argiope (Garden Orbweavers)
Species argentata (Silver Argiope)
Other Common Names
Silver Garden Spider
Silver Garden Orbweaver
Pronunciation
AR-gee-OH-pee; AR-jee-OH-pee
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Explanation of Names
Argiope argentata (Fabricius, 1775)
argentata = silvery
Size
females average 12 mm, males average 4 mm.
Identification
Posterior half of the top side of the abdomen is dark-colored with "windows" of white. The division between the light-colored front half and the dark-colored back half is usually straight and unbroken.
These orbweavers place a conspicuous zigzagging white silk banner in their webs called the "stabilimentum" which can be used to identify the species. In this species four stabilimenta form a cross in the web of mature spiders. Juveniles of many species, including this one, spin a spiralling stabilimentum from the center of the web. The function of the stabilimentum is not fully understood. Hypotheses are; that it stabilizes the web, or makes it more apparent to birds which will thus not fly into and wreck it, or it reflects light to attract insect prey, or perhaps most likely helps to camouflage the spider in the web.
Female

Male
Range
sw. CA, s. TX(1), se. FL / W. Indies / Mex. to n. Argentina (2), There's also one data point from AZ. (Levi, 2004)
Season
year round, most abundant Aug-Nov (2)
Life Cycle
Garden orbweavers rebuild their webs each morning in their typical habitat, field edges, open woods and gardens.
Print References
Florida's Fabulous Spiders (3)
Internet References
Texas Entomology - Mike Quinn, 2009
Works Cited
1.Catalogue of Texas spiders
Allen Dean. 2016. ZooKeys 570: 1-703.
2.iNaturalist
3.Florida's Fabulous Spiders
Sam Marshall, G. B. Edwards. 2002. World Publications.