Black-and-White Spiny Spider

Description:

This spider was spotted today, when I was out and about looking for something interesting to upload to PN. I was happy to see another Gasteracantha kuhli, partly because it is such an attractive spider, but mainly because it gave me a little more "evidence" to support my idea that this species collects detritus for web decoration and also adds a stabilimentum to its web. The amount of debris is fairly minimal in comparison to Cyclosa spiders and the stabilimenta are much less impressive than those of Cyclosa and Argiope. However, I now have so many pictures which include these elements, I am convinced that they are part of the life style of Gasteracantha kuhli. I have been unable to find any scientific paper or even general information to support this idea, despite noticing stabilimenta and debris in other people's pictures online. Just this afternoon, I came across a picture of G. kuhli with a small stabilimentum and a little debris (it is almost the same as my pictures in this spotting), but there is no mention of these elements in the description - https://www.singaporegeographic.com/spid......

Habitat:

Spotted on its web in the backyard of the rice mill. The web is in a position where there is an old, rusty cyclone fence and various wild, unidentified plants and bushes. It is difficult to see exactly where the web moorings are attached, but it would be safe to say that they are attached to twigs and branches of several plants.

Notes:

These are my previous spottings of Gasteracantha kuhli. The first one was spotted, just starting to build its web and, obviously, has no web debris or stabilimentum, but all of the others, with established webs, show web debris accumulation and stabilimenta: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/11... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/13... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16...