20080621-09656
Silver Argiope pair (Argiope argentata), a native spider. Bet you almost miss his presence. You are looking on the underside of hers (ventral view). As is the case with many spiders, the female is much larger than male. The zig-zag web pattern, known as a stabilimentum, is not sticky therefore does not directly function in the capture of prey. It does, however, reflect strongly in the UV portion of the spectrum. This has led to some speculation that it perhaps serves to attract insects or to warn flying birds to avoid collision with the web.



Created by M.K.Ravishankar (mk_ravishankar@yahoo.com) on Sat Feb 16 17:15:36 2013