Parawixia bistriata

Description:

Black and red orb web spider. Quite small at about 20mm body length and legs about the same again. Essentially a velvety black with small red vents down the side of the abdomen and 3 thin white lines running down the length of the dorsal surface of the abdomen. Seen in its hundreds and thousands in huge overhead webs.

Habitat:

This species is found in central South America in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. This specimen found in the Emmas National Park in Brazilian Cerrado. Parawixia is essentially and Latin American group with only one species from the family found outside (Parawixia dehaani) in India through to SE Asia.

Notes:

These spider create massive communal webs spanning between trees in the day and are found spread throughout the larger structure. At night however, they disperse and build individual catching webs within the thicker strands of the communal web and will defend these smaller webs vigorously from each other.