Banded Orb Spider
Female, dorsal, close up
Riverland
Banded Orb Spider
Female, Orb Web
 
                      
Banded Orb Spider (Argiope trifasciata)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Spiders, Scorpions, Mites & Ticks (Arachnida)
Order: Spiders (Araneae)
Family: Orb-weaver Spider (Araneidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Banded Orb Spider (Argiope trifasciata)
This Photo:     🔍Female, dorsal🔎

Thank you Matthew Connors & Anthony Paul for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Riverland and possibly elsewhere
She was a large lady, ~13mm, almost as big as an Australian Orb.
With many spiders the ventral patterns are more diagnostic than the dorsal pattern. Like red backs can have very variable colours on top, but always a red hour-glass under.
Here the ventral patterns are very typical of this species, but the dorsal shot is more washed out than any we can find. They usually have dark bands across the abdomen, but here, she's very silvery all over.
She built her web in Porcupine Grass (Triodia scariosa) and dropped down amoungst the needles when we approached.

Copyright © 2019-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 15-Oct-2019
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.