Signature Spider

Description:

This is a young adult Argiope luzona female. It has a Four-arm Discontinuous Cruciate Stabilimentum (web decoration) The web decoration and the complete web are rather damaged and "ragged" looking, which tends to indicate that there has been a lot of activity going on since this web was constructed during the night (around 8 to 12 hours before I took these photos). However, the most significant indicator in my photos is the fact that the spider has lost legs 3 and 4 on its left side and leg 4 on its right side. This was not caused by predation. A predator capable of inflicting such damage would have to have been big (and strong) enough to kill this spider. This (I think) is damage caused by a male Argiope luzona, fighting for its life after mating with the female. I looked around, but did not see him. So, I suspect that he was killed and eaten by the female, but obviously put up a tremendous struggle.

Habitat:

This Signature Spider was spotted in our front garden on a Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan) locally called Kadios. Plant information from - http://www.stuartxchange.org/Kadios.html......