Leucauge decorata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Decorative silver orb spider | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Tetragnathidae |
| Genus: | Leucauge |
| Species: | L. decorata |
| Binomial name | |
| Leucauge decorata (Walckenaer, 1842) | |
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| blue: reported countries (WSC) green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist) | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Leucauge decorata, the decorative silver orb spider, is one of the long-jawed orb weaver spiders. A medium to large sized orb weaving spider, with a body length up to 12 mm (0.47 in) long for females and up to 6 mm (0.24 in) for males. This species has a "point" to the end of the abdomen.
L. decorata was among the preferred spider species predated by the mud-dauber wasp Sceliphron madraspatanum for larval food in Pune city.[2]
Leucauge decorata has a wide Paleotropic distribution. It is found in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, China, Japan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia.[1]
In Africa, it is recorded from Botswana, Comoros, Tanzania, and South Africa.[1]
Habitat and ecology
The species builds large orb-webs, sometimes near water or in shaded damp areas. They are active during the day, hanging head down in their webs.[3]
It is found in forests, grasslands, rice fields, and urban areas. In urban areas, streetlights attracted insects leading to more webs of L. decorata on trees beside such lights.[4]
In South Africa, L. decorata has been sampled from Fynbos, Forest, Indian Ocean Coastal Belt, Grassland, Nama Karoo, and Savanna biomes at altitudes ranging from 4 to 1,842 m, as well as from citrus orchards, maize fields, and commercial pine plantations.[3]
