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)
Known as the Long-tailed St. Andrew’s Cross Spider (Argiope protensa), it belong to the infraorder Araneomorphae, that are spiders with opposing fangs and part of the family Araneidae (a group commonly known as Orb Weavers).
Other common names for Argiope protensa include Elongated St. Andrews Cross Spider, Longtailed Orb-weaving Spider, Tear Drop Spider and Tailed Forest Spider.
Photographed in an Alice Springs garden across some aloe vera plants and above the leafy mass of a sprawling sweet potato, that incidentally were ripe with tiny nymphs of the Giant Grasshopper.
You can also see the stabilimentum (a conspicuous silk structure web decoration). There are a number of different articles as to the function of this stabilimentum (see the footnotes).
For information about the web, prey and egg sacs, check out our main section on Spiders > Araneidae – Orb Weavers > Argiope protensa > Egg Sac | Prey | Web & Stabilimentum.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Araneidae
- Genus: Argiope
- Species: Argiope protensa
Footnote & References
- Many thanks to Emma Collins and Johan Kruger for ID of this species, Australian spider identification page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/australianspidereducation
- Do stabilimenta in orb webs attract prey or defend spiders?, by Todd A. Blackledge, John W. Wenzel, Behavioral Ecology, https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/10/4/372/2252323
- The Function of Stabilimenta in Spider Webs, by Emma Clodfelter ’21, Central College, Writing Anthology, https://central.edu/writing-anthology/2020/07/06/the-function-of-stabilimenta-in-spider-webs/
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
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