Argiope aemula
| Argiope aemula | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Female (dorsal side) | |
_male_and_female.jpg) | |
| Male (dorsal) and female (ventral) Bali, Indonesia | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Genus: | Argiope |
| Species: | A. aemula |
| Binomial name | |
| Argiope aemula (Walckenaer, 1841)[1] | |
Argiope aemula is a species of spider in the family Araneidae, found from India to the Philippines, in Sulawesi and in the New Hebrides.[1] It is one of the species of giant conspicuous "signature spiders" of the genus Argiope, seen in tropical and subtropical grasslands. Signature spiders get their name from the zigzag design embossed on the web, the stabilimentum, that is believed to serve a camouflage function. They show extreme sexual dimorphism and males are only 10% of the female in size and as a result become victims of sexual cannibalism. If the males survive the first copulation, then they almost always die during the second attempt.[2] However, further studies have shown that male invariably dies after second copulation as a form of programmed suicide.[3]
References
- 1 2 "Taxon details Argiope aemula (Walckenaer, 1841)", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-05-07
- ↑ Sexual cannibalism in an orb-weaving spider Argiope aemula
- ↑ Spontaneous male death during copulation in an orb-weaving spider