Signature Spider (subadult)

Description:

The Argiope luzona shown here is an extremely small, young subadult spider and I wanted to measure it. However, I could not risk placing a ruler close enough to give an indication of size in my photos, because, from experience I have learned that young subadult Argiope can be very skittish. If I startled it, I might trigger an escape response. When this happens, the spider drops like a stone, to the ground, paying out at high speed, a silk thread which it uses to climb back up when the threat has dissipated. It always reminds me of Theseus entering the labyrinth of the Minotaur, unrolling a ball of string, to help him find his way back out. That is only a story in Greek mythology, but for the spider it is a matter of life or death. If the thread breaks off, the spider would probably not be able to find its way back to its web. There is a safer way of measuring small creatures. Please see Notes.

Habitat:

This spider was spotted in the front yard of the rice mill, on its web attached to the leaf of a Blushing Philodendron (Philodendron erubescens). This is a climbing plant which has grown around the trunk of a Mango Tree, from the ground all the way up to the canopy.

Notes:

The method I used to ascertain the size of this tiny spider (without risking disturbing it) is as follows: I cut off a nearby leaf, of similar size, on the same plant and brought it home. Then it was a simple matter of identifying the leaf vein nearest to the spider in my photo and measuring the equivalent vein on the leaf I brought home. That enabled me to work out a simple scale to calculate the spider's size. In this case, the spider was 3mm long (snout to rump).