Orb-weaver Spider

Description:

There are several pictures in inaturalist.org of spiders which look like this one. The problem is that the pictures in https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/360748-... are called Neoscona scylla and the pictures in https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/243814-... are called Neoscona punctigera. So, I have decided to call my spider Neoscona sp. until I find an unequivocal identification.

Habitat:

This spider, with its leaf shelter, was spotted yesterday morning. It had constructed its web on a Blushing Philodendron climbing plant (Philodendron erubescens) which has grown big enough to cover the entire trunk of a Mango Tree. Plant identification - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philodendr...

Notes:

The 1st., 5th. and 6th. photos show the spider (and a small section of the web). The 2nd. photo shows a funnel shaped "leaf shelter" which the spider has made by rolling up part of a leaf. The 3rd. photo shows a rear view of the spider, viewed through the wide end of the funnel (I could not get into a position to take a front view photo). The 4th. photo shows the trunk of the tree enshrouded in the foliage of the Blushing Philodendron climbing plant. When I was taking the pictures, the spider was hiding in the leaf shelter, but when, at my request, my wife gently touched the web with a stick, the spider came rushing out. On realizing there was nothing of interest on its web, it went straight back into the shelter. We repeated this little experiment several times and it worked each time. So, I think it would be reasonable to assume that the shelter may have been made for the purpose of concealing itself while waiting for prey to get caught in the web. In order to clarify, the photo of the tree was taken on Nov 14 when I was preparing for a spotting featuring Argiope spiders. All the other photos were taken on Nov 15, except the last one which was taken this morning when I went to take some more pictures for my Argiope spotting. I know that it is preferable for all the photos in a spotting to be taken on one day, but sometimes there are unforeseen developments. My intention is always to use my photos to display what I saw in the best possible way.