Black-and-White Spiny Spider

Description:

Gasteracantha kuhli is an orb weaver spider which often adds a decoration to its web. The decorations that I have seen on the webs of this species have always been linear and made of silk with (sometimes) the addition of small pieces of plant material and/or prey remains. The web is usually quite expansive and beautifully made, but the web decorations are rather unimpressive, like the one shown here.

Habitat:

This spider was spotted in the rice mill backyard. Its web was on a Spiny Bamboo (Bambusa bambos) which is known in the Philippines as Kauayan-tinik. Plant info. from - http://www.stuartxchange.org/Kauayan.htm...

Notes:

The pictures above are crops of the same photo. The first is to show the spider as best I can and the second (less cropped) is to show the rather poor web decoration. Just as a footnote, I think I have noticed that this species becomes rather hairy as it gets older, but I am not sure as I have not seen mention of this in anything I have read.