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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Orb Weavers (Araneidae) » Garden Orbweavers (Argiope) » Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia)
Photo#698536
Unknown spider with unusual web feature - Argiope aurantia
Copyright © 2012 Marshall Faintich

Unknown spider with unusual web feature - Argiope aurantia
Rockfish Valley Trail, Nelson County, Virginia, USA
September 2, 2012
Size: about 3 inches
Please help ID this large spider. Looks like some kind of orbweaver to me. Also, does anyone know why it has this strange web feature (vertical corkscrew)?

Thanks!
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Contributed by Marshall Faintich on 2 September, 2012 - 10:42am
Last updated 5 September, 2012 - 8:10am

Moved
Moved from ID Request. Yes, Argiope aurantia. Nice photos, too!
… Kyron Basu, 2 September, 2012 - 2:12pm login or register to post comments

Black and Yellow Argiope
Looks like this one:


the web feature is thought to make the web more visible to birds and other animals that might accidentally break through the web if they didn't see it. Other spiders that do this also will make a cross of it (St. John's Cross spiders...if I have that correct) and will sit in the web with their legs paired off behind the web to hide the spider itself.
… GValHart, 2 September, 2012 - 10:49am login or register to post comments

 
Other theories about this web feature
Web visibility is one theory about this web feature (called a stabilimentum); however, there are others. These include camouflage, prey attraction (by diffracting ultraviolet light to resemble a flower), male attraction, and others.

There's an article about stabilimenta and the theories about their function on Wikipedia.
… Peter Edelman, 2 September, 2012 - 6:55pm login or register to post comments

 
Good stuff!
Thanks, Peter!
… GValHart, 3 September, 2012 - 9:57am login or register to post comments

 
Thanks!
Thanks!
… Marshall Faintich, 2 September, 2012 - 12:12pm login or register to post comments

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