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Signature Spider Second Moult

Argiope luzona

Photo by John B.
Published on Project Noah
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15.4561, 119.922

Field Notes

Description:

Argiope luzona (Walckenaer, 1842). I am absolutely certain that this is the smallest A. luzona juvenile that I have ever seen on its own web (I have seen, on a number of occasions, hatchlings emerging from egg sacs and this one is almost as small). I could not risk trying to measure it as I was pretty sure that it would drop from its web and might be endangered, down in the leaf litter. You can see, in the bottom right of the photo, the exuvia (cast off exoskeleton) and the reason I have called this spotting "Second Moult" is that the tiny baby spiders perform their first moult inside the egg sac before emerging. So, the assumption that this is the second moult is based on the spider's miniscule size. If it were the third moult, I am am sure that the size would be more familiar to me.

Habitat:

This minute spider was spotted in our backyard on its very small web which it had constructed on a "stick" which was intended to be a prop for a young plant.

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