Signature Spider

Description:

Argiope luzona (Walckenaer, 1842). This female Signature Spider has been in our backyard for sometime now and has been the subject of a previous spotting about its web decorations - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/75... and another concerning the presence of a male on a web very close to the female - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16...... Yesterday, I was busy, most of the morning, erecting a tent-like structure made from bamboo and a tarpaulin. This "tent" is to give me protection from the heavy rains we get at this time of year, during night-long photo sessions, in which my target is the tiny male. I want to document, in pictures, certain aspects of the male's behaviour during the hours of darness. So, during the erection of this tent, I kept an eye on both the male and the female spiders to make sure that they were not being disturbed too much. At around 11:15 a.m. I noticed that the female had adopted an unusual posture and work was immediately stopped, thinking that her posture was a sign of distress, but I very quickly realised that she was starting to moult. So I rushed indoors to get my camera and got a number of photos of the struggle these creatures experience when they cast off their exoskeleton to allow for more growth.

Habitat:

This female Argiope luzona was spotted, moulting, on her web in our backyard. The web was moored between the stems of two young banana plants. There was a tiny male on his adjacent web, just inches away from the female (but he does not feature in these pictures).

Notes:

Picture #1 - The spider on her web decoration (stabilimentum) at 7:12 a.m. Pic #2 - The moult was underway, I missed a minute or two, at the beginning because I had to go to the house for my camera. Pics #3 & #4 - the spider has broken free from its exuvia (exoskeleton) and was now suspended on a silk thread. Pic #5 - She was now resigned to just hanging there for some considerable time while her new exoskeleton hardened. At this stage, these spiders are extremely vulnerable. Pic #6 - Taken the following morning at 5:37 a.m. (near the end of my night observations of the little male). I took this picture to show how she was completely recovered from the experience of the moult and was now demonstrating her almost demonic energy rushing around, making repairs and renewals to her web.