Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs SpidersAustralian Golden Orb Weaver Australian Huntsman Spiders (Sparassidae) Backobourkines Banded Garden Spider Beautiful Badge Huntsman (Neosparassus calligaster) Cytaea sp Desert Huntsman Spider Elegant Water Spider (Dolomedes facetus) Hackled Orb-weavers Hortophora sp Long-jawed Orb Weavers Long-tailed St. Andrew’s Cross Spider Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae) Miturgidae (Elassoctenus spp) Red-headed Mouse Spider Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti) Wall Spider (Oecobius sp)
The Banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata) are sometimes seen in the park (under the right conditions, there will be many of them seemingly clustered together in the same area). The Banded Garden Spider, like others of the genus Argiope, typically build lower to the ground, although their webs can sometimes be seen strung between low to medium size shrubs, trees and even the blades of tall spinifex grass, with the spider sitting in the middle of their web.
Pictured here is the female Banded Garden Spider in the local Alice Springs Desert Park, hanging in her web in the spinifex grass. This species may be seen with other orb spiders nearby such as the Australian Golden Orb Weaver Spider (Trichonephila edulis) and the Long-tailed St. Andrews Cross Spider (Argiope protensa), also at the desert park.
Following is the Banded Garden Spider wrapping a grasshopper in the web. Also pictured you can also see it’s egg sac.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Araneidae
- Genus: Argiope
- Species: Argiope trifasciata
Footnote & References
- Many thanks for ID to Ben Kurek, on iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/147597096
- Many thanks for ID to Matthew Connors, member of Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277
- Argiope trifasciata (Forsskål, 1775), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/204cbfe1-dcdd-42b9-8511-0d92f00ab166
Alice Springs SpidersAustralian Golden Orb Weaver Australian Huntsman Spiders (Sparassidae) Backobourkines Banded Garden Spider Beautiful Badge Huntsman (Neosparassus calligaster) Cytaea sp Desert Huntsman Spider Elegant Water Spider (Dolomedes facetus) Hackled Orb-weavers Hortophora sp Long-jawed Orb Weavers Long-tailed St. Andrew’s Cross Spider Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae) Miturgidae (Elassoctenus spp) Red-headed Mouse Spider Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti) Wall Spider (Oecobius sp)
Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander