Signature Spider with Prey

Description:

Argiope luzona (Walckenaer, 1842). When I spotted this Argiope luzona (female) wrapping its prey, I almost ignored it as “a very common occurrence of no special interest”. It was around 5:30 am. and it was not yet daylight. I had been observing this spider, all night, and taking pictures at approximately 15 minute intervals. My purpose was to try and get some better photos of the web and stabilimentum being repaired and renewed (a task which this spider carries out almost every day of its life, with few exceptions). I had previously thought, based on what information I had come across, that this procedure was carried out in the last hour or two before dawn, but I had a number of failed attempts when going out at that time and soon discovered that my chances were greatly improved by just setting up my camera on a tripod and sitting there all night until the web renewal took place. It turned out that these spiders would, for some unknown reason, make their schedule variable. So, there I was, rather tired at 5:30 am. and starting to pack up my little bag with my notebook, flashlight etc. when I saw the spider dash across its web, grab the prey and start wrapping it. So, likewise I dashed back to my camera and started taking some pictures. All of my previous spottings of “A Spider with Prey” were usually just exactly that - a few pictures of a spider with its victim in its grasp, but this was different, and I learned quite a lot from this fairly short incident. Please see Notes below.

Habitat:

This Signature Spider (Argiope luzona) was spotted on her web, moored to the branches of an unknown small tree in the grounds of the rice mill.

Notes:

Picture #1. The wrapping of the prey was already underway, by the time I got back behind my camera and took this photo. If you look carefully at the orange/red Cribellum, you can just make out the spray of silk coming out of the spinnerets. The white zigzag, at the bottom right corner, is the upper left arm of the spiders stabilimentum. Pic #2. The spider is rotating its prey as it sprays it with more silk. Pic #3. The prey is now covered with an excessive amount of silk and the spider is still rotating it. They prey insect (I think it is a fly) perhaps landed on (or near) two of the radial strands to which the stabilimentum arm was fixed. The twisting of these two strands is increasing the tension on the end of the zigzag arm. Pic #4. The arm of the stabilimentum is now being destroyed by the spider’s violent assault on its prey. This is the first time I have seen a spider unintentionally damaging its own web decoration. Now, the rotating of the prey has stopped and for the first time ever, I witnessed this female eating the silk wrapping. I always thought that the spider would leave the prey inside the wrapping while its venomous bite liquified the prey’s internal organs. Pic #5. The prey can now be seen, almost completely unwrapped. Pic #6. The A. luzona has now brought her prey to the hub of her web, where she will probably eat it at her leisure. It was, no doubt, a good-sized meal, but the web was severely damaged by the violence and savagery of the attack and, as you can see in this last photo, the upper left stabilimentum arm is now just a stub and the lower left arm is not much better. The two on the right (which are mostly cropped off the picture) were still in their original condition. After going home for a rest after my long vigil, I returned to see how the spider was getting along, but the web was completely wrecked and the female was nowhere to be seen. I think it was probably the victim of some predatory attack. These spiders live brutal lives and are often preyed upon by wasps, mantises or birds.