Grass Cross Spider

Description:

Argiope catenulata (Doleschall, 1859), The common name of this species is the Grass Cross Spider. There are six species of Argiope spiders which have been well documented in the Philippines. Only three of them, however, are present in the area where I live. Those which are present here are Argiope luzona, Argiope aemula and the one shown here, Argiope catenulata. The species that I see most often is A. luzona. It seems to be around here for most of the year. Its numbers fall off as the dry season intensifies, but it bounces back again as soon as the rainy season gets going. Next is A. aemula which can be seen in pretty good numbers at the peak of the rains. It takes great advantage of the rice crops which provide a bountiful supply of moths an grasshoppers. Of course, living in the rice fields gives a steady supply of prey insects, but when the harvesters arrive on the scene, these poor spiders cannot escape the carnage and their numbers plummet. When the rice season is over, only a few A. aemula can be seen, mainly on the shrubs and grasses which spring up in the rice fields after the rice has been harvested. When these grasses and shrubs die as the dry season takes hold, A. aemula disappears until the next rice season gets underway. When it comes to Argiope catenulata, I rarely see them. The spider shown here is the first one I have seen this year. I expect to see one or two more in the coming weeks as the rice crops ripen and even more prey insects arrive, but I never see A. catenulata in anything even close to the numbers of A. aemula and A. luzona.

Habitat:

This Grass Cross Spider was spotted in a rice field.

Notes:

I was very excited and pleased to see this spider yesterday and took some photos as soon as I spotted it and I went back again today to see how this little female was doing and took some more photos. So the pictures shown here are from yesterday and today. I should mention, just in case there are any Argiope buffs out there, that this spider had a web decoration when I first spotted it, yesterday, and another (new one) today. I have not concentrated on the decoration in this spotting, but if the spider thrives in its present position, I am sure more stabilimenta will be produced and I anxious to see what this little spider is capable of constructing. For now, it is sufficient to record that the decorations I have seen, so far, were both of the same type - One-arm Stabilimentum. As previously mentioned, the photos shown here were taken yesterday and today. So, there are two different decorations in my pictures. Can you tell the differences in the zig zags?