FACTS ABOUT SIGNATURE SPIDER : Argiope anasuja

 

 ( Female Resting in the middle of the orb facing downwards) 

1. Scientific Name : Argiope anasuja

2. Description : This spider belongs to the harmless orb weaver spiders ( Family Araneidae ).

3. Distribution : This species found from the Sychelles to india , Pakistan and Sri Lanka and in the Maldives.

4. Habitat : They prefer Thick vegetations.

5. Description and Identification Marks: This Spiders identification is quite easy because of it’s amazing colouration and web design. Interesting thing about arachnids is that Male is always smaller than female. In this species Female is about 8 to 12 mm long and male is about 3.5 to 4.5 mm. Cephalothorax is greyish brown with hairs. Heart shaped sternum with hairy whitish patch. Palps bear spines. Legs greyish brown and hairy. Femora dorsally yellowish. Abdomen pentagonal and hairy. Dorsum yellowish with brown transverse bands. Three sigilla pairs distinct. Ventrum is dark brownish with two longitudinal white patches on it.

6. Ecology : All species from this genus of spiders called “signature spiders” because of their unique web building pattern like Zig Zag Stebilimentum somewhat resembling letters.The female of this species always rests at a centre of orb with head facing downwards as shown in the photograph above. They prefer to make web in plane of shadow in the daylight.

7. Reproductive behaviour: As Mentioned above , male is smaller than females. Male spins a web around the females web which is known as companian web. And interesting thing is after mating , female kills the male spider as other species of spiders do. After that female lays egg on companian web and wrap them up into sac. The sac can hold 400 to 1400 eggs in it. And another interesting thing is spiderlings eat each other inside the sac until strongest one survive and breakdown the sac wall.

8. Photograph and details : Mohit Patel ( Zoologist )

9. Location :   Pond adjacent to Bakrol Vadtal road

10. References :

        https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/256693

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_anasuja    .