Argiope aetherea

Argiope aetherea
Female and male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Argiope
Species: A. aetherea
Binomial name
Argiope aetherea
(Walckenaer, 1841)[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Epeira aetherea Walckenaer, 1841
  • Argiope regalis L. Koch, 1871
  • Argiope variabilis Bradley, 1876
  • Argiope lunata Bradley, 1876
  • Argiope brownii O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877
  • Argiope verecunda Thorell, 1878
  • Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841)
  • Argiope friedericii Strand, 1911
  • Argiope wolfi Strand, 1911
  • Argiope maerens Kulczyński, 1911
  • Argiope udjirica Strand, 1911
  • Argiope wogeonicola Strand, 1913
  • Gea rotunda Hogg, 1915
  • Argiope novae-pommeraniae Strand, 1915

Argiope aetherea is a common, large orb-web spider (family Araneidae). Like other species of Argiope, it is commonly known as the St Andrew's Cross spider, due to the characteristic cross-shaped web decorations female spiders often include in their webs. A. aetherea is similar in appearance to A. keyserlingi, however female A. aetherea are generally larger than A. keyserlingi. Like most orb-web spiders, A. aetherea shows considerable sexual size dimorphism, with females being many times larger than males.

Distribution

Argiope aetherea is found from China to Australia.[1] It is commonly found along the east coast of Australia, in particular Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.[2]

Subspecies

There exists a subspecies from New Guinea:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Taxon details Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841)", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-05-07
  2. ↑ http://australianmuseum.net.au/St-Andrews-Cross-Spider
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