Argiope luzona Walckenaer, 1842. The first three pictures show a female and the next three show a male. That seems simple and straight forward, but when it comes to Argiope spiders, things are not always as simple as they look. I think I should mention at this point that I don't have any expertise when it comes to these spiders, but I have been fascinated by them for a few years now and I have picked up little snippets of information here and there. So, some of what I will say here is from my own observations and I hope it might be helpful. In scientific papers, I see certain words being used to describe the stages of development e.g. hatchlings or babies, juveniles and adults. That is, of course, exactly correct and easy to understand, but I think that there should be another "stage" in the development of Argiope. I would categorize the two spiders in my photos as being in their "juvenescence" i.e. they are no longer babies, but I don't consider them to be juveniles. They are somewhere in between. I will try to explain. If they were both babies, they would look much more similar than they do in my pictures. The female would not have any stripes on her abdomen and the emerging pattern on her cephalothorax would not yet be visible. In fact, she would pretty much have the plain light brown colours of the male. The only easy way to tell them apart would be that the female's cephalothorax is small in relation to its abdomen and, in contrast, the male's cephalothorax would be almost the same size as his abdomen. When they are both truly juvenile, the male will be around 6 mm. "snout-to-rump" and he will grow no bigger, but his cephalothorax will be as big (or slightly bigger) than his abdomen. The female will continue to grow bigger and more colourful until she is a little more than double the length of the male. So, what is all the fuss about an intermediate stage "juvenescence". Well, what I have observed is that in the "baby" stage from hatchling and through infancy, both male and female follow the rules, in other words their development is known and documented, therefore predictable. The same can be said about juveniles (young adults). However, in their "juvenescence" (as I call it) their development sometimes becomes erratic. My pictures show examples of this irregular and unpredictable behaviour. Studies of A. luzona have shown that the size of these spiders determines what kind of stabilimentum (web decoration) they construct. It is much the same for male and female, and it is approximately like this: Spider size < 6 mm. the stabilimentum is discoid; Spider size > 6 mm. the stabilimentum is cruciate. So, what on earth is happening in my pictures. The female that I measured to be 7 mm. is sitting on a discoid decoration and the male who is only 3 mm. has built himself an adult type of decoration known as a 2 armed continuous cruciate stabilimentum. As I see it, they have thrown the rule book out of the window. As far as I can tell, these spiders follow a set pattern of behaviour throughout their development from the moment of hatching and throughout their infancy. Then they do so again from juvenility through to adulthood. It is this period of two or three weeks (which I call "juvenescence") when things seem to go haywire. I believe that everything in nature follows certain "laws" or "rules" and this erratic behaviour which I have noticed is probably not erratic at all. There is probably some extremely complex process going on at this stage in the lives of these spiders. All we have to do is observe it and give it a little thought and at some point, a pattern will emerge. By the way, I know you will have noticed the huge pedipalps of the male and, of course, that would make identification very easy, but I have taken hundreds of pictures of Argiope spiders and the palps are not often so obvious. They are often tucked away where they can't be seen. Happy spotting :-)

Please check: https://twitter.com/myfrogcroaked/status... have corrected the category for you.

Argiope luzona Walckenaer, 1842. The first three pictures show a female and the next three show a male. That seems simple and straight forward, but when it comes to Argiope spiders, things are not always as simple as they look. I think I should mention at this point that I don't have any expertise when it comes to these spiders, but I have been fascinated by them for a few years now and I have picked up little snippets of information here and there. So, some of what I will say here is from my own observations and I hope it might be helpful. In scientific papers, I see certain words being used to describe the stages of development e.g. hatchlings or babies, juveniles and adults. That is, of course, exactly correct and easy to understand, but I think that there should be another "stage" in the development of Argiope. I would categorize the two spiders in my photos as being in their "juvenescence" i.e. they are no longer babies, but I don't consider them to be juveniles. They are somewhere in between. I will try to explain. If they were both babies, they would look much more similar than they do in my pictures. The female would not have any stripes on her abdomen and the emerging pattern on her cephalothorax would not yet be visible. In fact, she would pretty much have the plain light brown colours of the male. The only easy way to tell them apart would be that the female's cephalothorax is small in relation to its abdomen and, in contrast, the male's cephalothorax would be almost the same size as his abdomen. When they are both truly juvenile, the male will be around 6 mm. "snout-to-rump" and he will grow no bigger, but his cephalothorax will be as big (or slightly bigger) than his abdomen. The female will continue to grow bigger and more colourful until she is a little more than double the length of the male. So, what is all the fuss about an intermediate stage "juvenescence". Well, what I have observed is that in the "baby" stage from hatchling and through infancy, both male and female follow the rules, in other words their development is known and documented, therefore predictable. The same can be said about juveniles (young adults). However, in their "juvenescence" (as I call it) their development sometimes becomes erratic. My pictures show examples of this irregular and unpredictable behaviour. Studies of A. luzona have shown that the size of these spiders determines what kind of stabilimentum (web decoration) they construct. It is much the same for male and female, and it is approximately like this: Spider size < 6 mm. the stabilimentum is discoid; Spider size > 6 mm. the stabilimentum is cruciate. So, what on earth is happening in my pictures. The female that I measured to be 7 mm. is sitting on a discoid decoration and the male who is only 3 mm. has built himself an adult type of decoration known as a 2 armed continuous cruciate stabilimentum. As I see it, they have thrown the rule book out of the window. As far as I can tell, these spiders follow a set pattern of behaviour throughout their development from the moment of hatching and throughout their infancy. Then they do so again from juvenility through to adulthood. It is this period of two or three weeks (which I call "juvenescence") when things seem to go haywire. I believe that everything in nature follows certain "laws" or "rules" and this erratic behaviour which I have noticed is probably not erratic at all. There is probably some extremely complex process going on at this stage in the lives of these spiders. All we have to do is observe it and give it a little thought and at some point, a pattern will emerge. By the way, I know you will have noticed the huge pedipalps of the male and, of course, that would make identification very easy, but I have taken hundreds of pictures of Argiope spiders and the palps are not often so obvious. They are often tucked away where they can't be seen. Happy spotting :-)

Argiope luzona Walckenaer, 1842. The first three pictures show a female and the next three show a male. That seems simple and straight forward, but when it comes to Argiope spiders, things are not always as simple as they look. I think I should mention at this point that I don't have any expertise when it comes to these spiders, but I have been fascinated by them for a few years now and I have picked up little snippets of information here and there. So, some of what I will say here is from my own observations and I hope it might be helpful. In scientific papers, I see certain words being used to describe the stages of development e.g. hatchlings or babies, juveniles and adults. That is, of course, exactly correct and easy to understand, but I think that there should be another "stage" in the development of Argiope. I would categorize the two spiders in my photos as being in their "juvenescence" i.e. they are no longer babies, but I don't consider them to be juveniles. They are somewhere in between. I will try to explain. If they were both babies, they would look much more similar than they do in my pictures. The female would not have any stripes on her abdomen and the emerging pattern on her cephalothorax would not yet be visible. In fact, she would pretty much have the plain light brown colours of the male. The only easy way to tell them apart would be that the female's cephalothorax is small in relation to its abdomen and, in contrast, the male's cephalothorax would be almost the same size as his abdomen. When they are both truly juvenile, the male will be around 6 mm. "snout-to-rump" and he will grow no bigger, but his cephalothorax will be as big (or slightly bigger) than his abdomen. The female will continue to grow bigger and more colourful until she is a little more than double the length of the male. So, what is all the fuss about an intermediate stage "juvenescence". Well, what I have observed is that in the "baby" stage from hatchling and through infancy, both male and female follow the rules, in other words their development is known and documented, therefore predictable. The same can be said about juveniles (young adults). However, in their "juvenescence" (as I call it) their development sometimes becomes erratic. My pictures show examples of this irregular and unpredictable behaviour. Studies of A. luzona have shown that the size of these spiders determines what kind of stabilimentum (web decoration) they construct. It is much the same for male and female, and it is approximately like this: Spider size < 6 mm. the stabilimentum is discoid; Spider size > 6 mm. the stabilimentum is cruciate. So, what on earth is happening in my pictures. The female that I measured to be 7 mm. is sitting on a discoid decoration and the male who is only 3 mm. has built himself an adult type of decoration known as a 2 armed continuous cruciate stabilimentum. As I see it, they have thrown the rule book out of the window. As far as I can tell, these spiders follow a set pattern of behaviour throughout their development from the moment of hatching and throughout their infancy. Then they do so again from juvenility through to adulthood. It is this period of two or three weeks (which I call "juvenescence") when things seem to go haywire. I believe that everything in nature follows certain "laws" or "rules" and this erratic behaviour which I have noticed is probably not erratic at all. There is probably some extremely complex process going on at this stage in the lives of these spiders. All we have to do is observe it and give it a little thought and at some point, a pattern will emerge. By the way, I know you will have noticed the huge pedipalps of the male and, of course, that would make identification very easy, but I have taken hundreds of pictures of Argiope spiders and the palps are not often so obvious. They are often tucked away where they can't be seen. Happy spotting :-)

Argiope luzona Walckenaer, 1842. The first three pictures show a female and the next three show a male. That seems simple and straight forward, but when it comes to Argiope spiders, things are not always as simple as they look. I think I should mention at this point that I don't have any expertise when it comes to these spiders, but I have been fascinated by them for a few years now and I have picked up little snippets of information here and there. So, some of what I will say here is from my own observations and I hope it might be helpful. In scientific papers, I see certain words being used to describe the stages of development e.g. hatchlings or babies, juveniles and adults. That is, of course, exactly correct and easy to understand, but I think that there should be another "stage" in the development of Argiope. I would categorize the two spiders in my photos as being in their "juvenescence" i.e. they are no longer babies, but I don't consider them to be juveniles. They are somewhere in between. I will try to explain. If they were both babies, they would look much more similar than they do in my pictures. The female would not have any stripes on her abdomen and the emerging pattern on her cephalothorax would not yet be visible. In fact, she would pretty much have the plain light brown colours of the male. The only easy way to tell them apart would be that the female's cephalothorax is small in relation to its abdomen and, in contrast, the male's cephalothorax would be almost the same size as his abdomen. When they are both truly juvenile, the male will be around 6 mm. "snout-to-rump" and he will grow no bigger, but his cephalothorax will be as big (or slightly bigger) than his abdomen. The female will continue to grow bigger and more colourful until she is a little more than double the length of the male. So, what is all the fuss about an intermediate stage "juvenescence". Well, what I have observed is that in the "baby" stage from hatchling and through infancy, both male and female follow the rules, in other words their development is known and documented, therefore predictable. The same can be said about juveniles (young adults). However, in their "juvenescence" (as I call it) their development sometimes becomes erratic. My pictures show examples of this irregular and unpredictable behaviour. Studies of A. luzona have shown that the size of these spiders determines what kind of stabilimentum (web decoration) they construct. It is much the same for male and female, and it is approximately like this: Spider size < 6 mm. the stabilimentum is discoid; Spider size > 6 mm. the stabilimentum is cruciate. So, what on earth is happening in my pictures. The female that I measured to be 7 mm. is sitting on a discoid decoration and the male who is only 3 mm. has built himself an adult type of decoration known as a 2 armed continuous cruciate stabilimentum. As I see it, they have thrown the rule book out of the window. As far as I can tell, these spiders follow a set pattern of behaviour throughout their development from the moment of hatching and throughout their infancy. Then they do so again from juvenility through to adulthood. It is this period of two or three weeks (which I call "juvenescence") when things seem to go haywire. I believe that everything in nature follows certain "laws" or "rules" and this erratic behaviour which I have noticed is probably not erratic at all. There is probably some extremely complex process going on at this stage in the lives of these spiders. All we have to do is observe it and give it a little thought and at some point, a pattern will emerge. By the way, I know you will have noticed the huge pedipalps of the male and, of course, that would make identification very easy, but I have taken hundreds of pictures of Argiope spiders and the palps are not often so obvious. They are often tucked away where they can't be seen. Happy spotting :-)

Spilomyia longicornis is a fly in the hoverfly family that mimics a hornet. It has a yellow-striped abdomen and its eyes have a wasp-like appearance.