Black-and-White Spiny Spider with Prey

Description:

Araneidae; Gasteracantha; G. kuhli C. L. Koch, 1837. I cannot tell what the prey inscect is as it was already wrapped in silk ribbon when I spotted the spider. At this stage, I can only speculate, but it may be that this spider has deliberately added the remains of this prey to the silk decoration on its web. There are one or two examples shown in some of my previous spottings of this species (see Notes below). As yet, I have not come across any scientific paper which confirms decoration building by this species, but there is a paper which mentions decorations made by Gasteracantha cancriformis, a closely related species - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.100...

Habitat:

Spotted this morning in the rice mill backyard, on its web which was moored between two young mango trees.

Notes:

My previous spottings of G. kuhli - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/52... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/11... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/12... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/13... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16...