Banded Orb-weaving Spider - Argiope trifasciata

FAMILY ARANEIDAE

This page contains pictures and information about Banded Orb-weaving Spiders that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Leg to leg female 50mm, male 10mm

Banded Orb-weaving Spiders sometimes may be confused with St Andrew's Cross Spiders. They look similar although the pattern on their abdomen are quite different. Banded Orb-weaving Spider females have yellow, white and brown colours bands across their abdomen. Their legs are also banded. Males are much smaller than the female, with grey to pale brown in colour.


Female Male

Banded Orb-weaving Spiders are not as common as the St Andrew's Cross Spiders. We only found one or two of them in our backyard each year. Banded Orb-weaving Spiders build vertical orb web, about a meter in diameter, close to ground among tall grasses. They make stabilimentum on their web too, but not a cross. They also rest on web with legs in pair.



From late summer to early winter, females build egg sacs near their web and are suspended among the leaves.

One hot summer day, we were taking pictures of a grasshopper, the grasshopper jumped and flied away. However, it flied into the web of a Banded Orb-weaving Spider. The web was built wide across the grass land, half a meter above ground. We did not see the web neither until the grasshopper got caught in the web.



The spider came near the grasshopper immediately and poured large amount of silks onto the grasshopper. After the grasshopper was entangled by those silks, its movement was limited, then the spider hold the grasshopper with eight legs, rotated the grasshopper like a wheel with the spider itself hanging from the wheel, while putting more silks onto the grasshopper.



The spider quickly warped around the grasshopper and the grasshopper just no way to escape. The process happened in a few seconds and we took the above pictures.



Then the spider came rest and sit back at the centre of the web.

Reference:
1. Argiope trifasciata - The Find-a-spider Guide for Australian Spiders, University of Southern Queensland, 2007.
2. Spiders of Australia: An Introduction to Their Classification, Biology & Distribution - Hawkeswood T, Pensoft Pub, 2003, p116.
3. Australian Spiders in colour - Ramon Mascord, Reed Books Pty Ltd, 1970, p74.
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