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Argiope luzona
The two spiders in the photos are Argiope luzona. The female is a medium sized spider and the male, as you can see is very much smaller. The male, having sensed that the female is ready to mate, has left his own web, close by, and is now on that of the female. If he is to mate successfully, he will have to wait patiently until the female appears ready to accept him, before making his move. If he is lucky, he might have to wait for just a few hours, but this period of waiting can sometimes last for several days. I took only two photos and, as an afterthought, added an enlargement of each (to show the little male more clearly). You will see that in the dorsal view of the female, the male is presenting his ventral view and, vice versa, when the female is seen in ventral view, the male is viewed dorsally.
These spiders were spotted in our backyard. The female's web was moored on unidentified plants (weeds), climbing on the fence around our vegetable plot.
If you are interested in the Stabilimentum (web decoration) in the photos, it is a Four-armed Discontinuous Cruciate Stabilimentum.
Spotted on Dec 7, 2023
Submitted on Dec 7, 2023
2 Comments
Hi realjapanesegreentea,
Thank you for your comment. The spider species shown here is Argiope luzona, known by the common name Signature Spider. There are 88 species in the Genus Argiope and many of them look similar. So, it is easy to become confused. Perhaps the following will help to clarify. The one which is called a Wasp Spider is Argiope bruennichi and it is not present in the Philippines. If you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_br...... you will see some pictures which you can compare with my pictures here. I hope that will help. Once again, thank you for your interest and I hope you are enjoying Project Noah. ありがとう
I've seen these on Inaturalist people are saying they are wasp spiders... I honestly don't know but I've seen them before.