Signature Spider - Moult

Description:

Argiope luzona (Walckenaer, 1841). Pic #1 (Jan 17). This young, female, sub-adult Argiope luzona was pictured with a very unusual web repair which was featured in a previous spotting (please see Notes). Pic #2.(Jan 18). Shows that her abdomen had, within 24 hours, become swollen. However, it was not just "swollen" which would probably have suggested that she was gravid. The stripes and colours on her carapace had become faded. The combination of swelling and fading colours indicated that she was moulting. Pic #3. (Jan 19). Just as expected, there was the female, back on the hub and her exuvia an inch or two away, stuck to the web. Pic #4. (Cropped from #3) The little bit of whitish material is also part of the exuvia. It is the Tracheae (internal breathing tubes). They get pulled out , during the moult because they are attached to the spiracles on the exoskeleton. The spider is not harmed, because the replacement Tracheae develop before the moult. Wikipedia has a great article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoskeleto...... Pic #5. (Jan 21) The spider looks like it has made a good recovery from the moult. All I want to see now is a Stabilimentum which will prove that everything is back to normal in the life of this amazing little spider. Pic #6. (Jan 22) There it is, a small, but important Stabilimentum.

Habitat:

This Signature Spider was spotted in our backyard. Its web was moored on two plants; a Painted Nettle (Plectranthus scutellarioides) locally called Mayana and a Miracle fruit (Crescentia cujete) called Kalabas in the Philippines. Plant information from stuartxchange.org.

Notes:

Please note that P #1. appears in https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/20....... about web repairs after catastrophic damage. I have used the picture again, in this spotting, because I observed the same spider moulting and I needed a photo, from the time immediately before the moult, for comparison purposes.