Argiope aetherea

Argiope aetherea
A. aetherea female and male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Family:	Araneidae
Genus:	Argiope
Species:	A. aetherea
Binomial name
Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841)
Synonyms
Epeira aetherea Argiope regalis Argiope variabilis Argiope lunata Argiope brownii Argiope verecunda Argiope maerens Argiope avara angulicosta Argiope avara ocelligera Argiope avara tristipes Argiope friedericii Argiope wolfi Argiope udjirica Argiope lihirica Argiope wogeonicola Argiope novae-pommeraniae Gea rotunda

Argiope aetherea is a common, large orb-web spider This species is commonly known as the St Andrew's Cross spider due to the characteristic cross-shaped web decorations often included in their webs by female spiders. 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

The species is commonly found along the east coast of Australia, in particular Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.^[1] It also appears in China.

Subspecies

There exists a subspecies from New Guinea:

• Argiope aetherea annulipes Thorell, 1881

St Andrew's Cross Spider.

References

1. http://australianmuseum.net.au/St-Andrews-Cross-Spider