Argiope radon: Difference between revisions
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|access-date=2020-11-11}}</ref> It is commonly known as the '''Northern St Andrew's cross''' spider.<ref name=Field>{{cite book |last1=Whyte |first1=Robert |last2=Anderson |first2=Greg |date=2017 |title=A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia |location=Clayton South Vic. 3169 |publisher=CSIRO publishing |page=80 |isbn=9780643107076}}</ref> |
|access-date=2020-11-11}}</ref> It is commonly known as the '''Northern St Andrew's cross''' spider.<ref name=Field>{{cite book |last1=Whyte |first1=Robert |last2=Anderson |first2=Greg |date=2017 |title=A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia |location=Clayton South Vic. 3169 |publisher=CSIRO publishing |page=80 |isbn=9780643107076}}</ref> |
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Like most orb-weaving spiders, males are much smaller than females. The female grows to around 18 mm in body length while the male is around 6 mm. Females of this species construct [[web decorations]].<ref name=Field/> As of November 2020, there are eighty-one records of ''Argiope radon'' listed in the [[Atlas of Living Australia]].<ref name=ALA>{{cite web |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:7ba98d5b-2a7a-479d-8328-1f45740ac69c|title= Argiope radon Levi, 1983|date=1983|website=Atlas of Living Australia |publisher=Ala.org.au |access-date=2020-11-11}}</ref> |
Like most orb-weaving spiders, males are much smaller than females. The female grows to around 18 mm in body length while the male is around 6 mm. Females of this species construct [[web decorations]].<ref name=Field/> As of November 2020, there are eighty-one records of ''Argiope radon'' listed in the [[Atlas of Living Australia]].<ref name=ALA>{{cite web |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:7ba98d5b-2a7a-479d-8328-1f45740ac69c|title= Argiope radon Levi, 1983|date=1983|website=Atlas of Living Australia |publisher=Ala.org.au |access-date=2020-11-11}}</ref> They tend to either form aggregations with spiders of the same species or are found as solitary individuals, and their states heavily impact their web decorating abilities. <ref name=":0">Rao, D., Webster, M., Heiling, A.M. et al. The aggregating behaviour of Argiope radon, with special reference to web decorations. J Ethol 27, 35–42 (2009). <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-007-0080-x</nowiki> </ref>Their webs are heavily affected by humidity, but are less affected by temperature changes.<ref name=":1">S J Blamires, W I Sellers, Modelling temperature and humidity effects on web performance: implications for predicting orb-web spider (Argiope spp.) foraging under Australian climate change scenarios, Conservation Physiology, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2020, coz083, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coz083</nowiki> </ref> |
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'''Description:''' |
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The ''A. radon''’s carapace, the hard upper shell portion of their body, is covered in dark brown color at the top and gradually fades into a white color towards the outer-parts of the shell. Their sternum is generally black, except for the middle part which is white. The dorsum of the abdomen is also white and is covered with white hairs. In addition, the abdomen is framed with a dark black color and has black posterior tips.<ref>Levi, Herbert W. “The Orb-Weaver Genera Argiope, Gea, and Neogea from the Western Pacific Region (Araneae: Araneidae, Argiopinae).” Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, vol. 150, no. 5, 22 Dec. 1983. </ref> |
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'''Habitat and Distribution''' |
|||
''' Habitat''' |
|||
The ''A. radons'' differ from the other ''Argiope'' species in that they are found in aggregations around the river-banks and streams. Their web-building occurs near vegetation that overhang the waters.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
''' Geographic distribution''' |
|||
The orb-web spiders, the ''Argiope radon,'' are distributed in the Northern territory and Queensland states of Australia. They are found in the semi-arid tropical savanna, which has distinct wet and dry seasons.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
'''Diet''' |
|||
''' Adult''' |
|||
''' Predatory feeding''' |
|||
This spider’s model prey are the stingless bees, which are easily attracted to the decorations and colors of the spiders. In addition to simply the colors, the UV reflecting properties on the abdomen also serve as a way to attract prey. However, in general, prey are more likely to approach webs with decorations rather than those that do not have decorations. According to current research, there isn’t a difference in the number of prey that can be caught by either solitary or aggregating spiders over a 10-day period.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
'''Webs''' |
|||
''' Web type''' |
|||
The ''A. radons'' are known orb-web spiders, which means that they create spiral, circular webs in addition to silk decorations. Their orb-webs are also created pointing towards the southeast-northwest plane.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
''' Prey capture technique''' |
|||
The web’s architecture plays a significant role in its ability to perform its functions, especially when the force inputted by the prey is high. Hence, the sparse meshwork found in larger webs are less likely to capture prey. In the high-performing webs, however, the architecture will not be as important.<ref name=":2">Harmer, A., Clausen, P., Wroe, S. et al. Large orb-webs adapted to maximise total biomass not rare, large prey. Sci Rep 5, 14121 (2015). <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14121</nowiki> </ref> |
|||
Though the amount of biomass the webs are able to capture is unrelated to the size of the web at low prey kinetic energy levels, rare and large prey contribute much less to the amount of biomass that is captured. It’s true that there is a selective pathway for how high-performance webs change; large webs with even longer radial threads have the ability to capture even more biomass on the web.<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
''' Construction''' |
|||
The effectiveness of their webs vary depending on several different factors. The webs’ ability to stop an intense amount of force for an organism is not impaired by temperature, but can be affected by extreme cases of humidity. Having a too low or too high of a temperature can potentially counter the effects of the webs in capturing prey. Other factors include gravity and interactions that may dampen the webs.<ref name=":1" /> Labs have used the values of the common MA silk, which is the toughest silk that the orb-spiders can have, to estimate the ability of the web to absorb impacts that insects can have. To add, the area of the total web can be calculated using the ellipse formula.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
''' Decoration''' |
|||
The decorations on spider webs differ based on several factors such as mating, type of spiders, and many more. These specific spiders are similar to other ''Argiope'' species in that they also build silk decorations that are diagonal, starting from the top left of the web to the bottom right side. In additionally, an experiment conducted at Macquarie University found that the satiation levels influenced the length of web decorations and tendency to form aggregations.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
Decorations of aggregating spiders were significantly shorter than the decorations of solitary spiders, and spiders that are in aggregations tend to have more variability in their web decorating abilities than the solitary ones. But, there were no significant differences found in the kleptoparasitic load between the aggregating spiders and solitary spiders.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
Through a research experiment, it was found that spiders that were less hungry (or more full) built decorations that were longer in length than those that were not fed properly. But, there was not a correlation between satiety and their tendency to aggregate.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
''' Longevity''' |
|||
Due to the tensile properties of these nonlinear patterned webs, the orb-webs are highly functional even after being damaged. These spiders are also able to rapidly repair any damage to the webs. Hence, that’s why their webs are able to last a longer time than most spiders’ webs.<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
'''Reproduction and life cycle''' |
|||
''' Fertilization''' |
|||
There was no evidence that the resting metabolic rate (RMR) of the female’s parents changed how long it takes the females to lay their egg sac after they mate. However, females with higher RMR values had significantly heavier egg sacs.<ref name=":3">Ameri, M., Kemp, D.J., Barry, K.L. and Herberstein, M.E. (2020), Is resting metabolic rate related to reproductive output in an orb‐web spider, Argiope radon?. Ecol Entomol, 45: 1044-1052. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12882</nowiki></ref> |
|||
''' Brood size''' |
|||
As the age at which females lay their offspring increased, the mass of the egg sacs decreased, regardless of the order in which those egg sacs were laid. But, in general, the size of the eggs for the first egg sac tends to be greater than the size of the second egg. The amount of protein in the eggs, however, do not change with the egg sac order or the age of the female at the time the offspring is born. Usually, total available resources decrease with increased maternal age, which leads to lower egg sac mass and higher emerging time in the egg sacs. But, females are able to compensate for the increased emerging time by creating eggs that are bigger in size. This increase in size of the eggs is what allows these offspring to tolerate starvation better. |
|||
There are no significant correlations between the time at which offspring emerged with the egg’s size and its protein content. There also was no significant relationship found between the offspring’s toleration to starvation, size of egg, and egg’s protein content.<ref>Ameri, M., Kemp, D.J., Barry, K.L. et al. Age-Specific Reproductive Investment and Offspring Performance in an Orb-web Spider, Argiope radon. Evol Biol 46, 207–215 (2019). <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-019-09476-8</nowiki></ref> |
|||
'''Mating''' |
|||
''' Mate searching behavior''' |
|||
More males tend to be on the webs of females that are a part of aggregations than on the solitary females’ webs. More males preferred to be with females that have web decorations than those that do not.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
''' female/male interaction''' |
|||
''' Pheromones''' |
|||
''' ''' Female spiders are known to use sex pheromones to send out signals for mating.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
''' Courting''' |
|||
Male courtship shuttering can influence female mate choice. It’s also found that courtship behaviors that are not as repeated are actually courting behaviors that previously did not have much effect on the female’s mating preferences, and vice versa.<ref name=":4">Anne E. Wignall, Darrell J. Kemp, Marie E. Herberstein, Extreme short-term repeatability of male courtship performance in a tropical orb-web spider, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 25, Issue 5, September-October 2014, Pages 1083–1088, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru083</nowiki> </ref> |
|||
''' Copulation''' |
|||
Having long copulations helps the males to increase their effectiveness in genital plugging. Hence, female spiders cut down their time copulating with males that are of lower quality. Because of the presence of the “female choice” during copulation, the duration of copulation only plays a minor role in mating success for the male.<ref name=":4" /> |
|||
''' Sexual cannibalism''' |
|||
There is a very high risk of cannibalism during courtship, especially for the female web-building spiders. The females are highly aggressive and exhibit sexual cannibalistic behaviors. Males, therefore, are at a high risk for injury when they choose to approach a female. This risk is what leads to a strong level of selection for high repeatability in male courtship signals. These signals of high repeatability help to relay an increased amount of information to the females about the male’s identity and intent. Because females have poor vision but have great sensitivity to signals and vibrations, these repeatable signals through vibrations is key to reducing the risk for male injury.<ref name=":4" /> |
|||
'''Social behavior''' |
|||
''' Spiderling sociality''' |
|||
''A. radons'' are more likely to be found as aggregations rather than as solitary individuals. However, there was not a difference between aggregating spiders and solitary spiders in the variables of body length, web height, and mesh height. But, there are a lot more males per female found in the aggregation spiders than those found in solitary spiders.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
'''Enemies''' |
|||
''' Predators''' |
|||
The ''A. radon’s'' model predators are the blue tits for several reasons. The blue tit’s visual system is well-known and about 20% of their diet is composed of spiders. Their methods for prey capturing include using UV-specific cues as well.<ref name=":0" /> |
|||
'''Physiology''' |
|||
''' Locomotion''' |
|||
Based on a compensation model where there is a fixed amount of energy available, a lowered resting metabolic rate (RMR) is favoured when the spiders are completing activities that require a large amount of energy. However, it does not mean that lower RMR values are more favoured.<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
''' Digestion''' |
|||
The Resting metabolic rate (RMR) of the female spiders does not change with age drastically, but it was significantly affected by whether the female spider had mated or not. For example, mated females had RMRs that were significantly reduced by almost 29-35%. In addition, the RMR for both females and males are positively correlated with the offspring’s body mass, though this is merely a correlation.<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
'''Bites to humans and animals''' |
|||
''' Incidence''' |
|||
The ''Argiope'' spiders are common spiders in the United States and have minor medical importance. The best way to prevent getting a spider bite is to simply flick the spider. Avoid crushing the spider on the skin because that will only incite the spider’s reflexive response, causing the spiders’ fangs to dig into the skin.<ref>Diaz JH, Leblanc KE. Common spider bites. Am Fam Physician. 2007 Mar 15;75(6):869-73. PMID: 17390599. </ref> |
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==Gallery== |
==Gallery== |
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Revision as of 15:16, 20 November 2020
| Argiope radon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Argiope radon female dorsal view, Litchfield National Park | |
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| Ventral view | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Genus: | Argiope |
| Species: | A. radon
|
| Binomial name | |
| Argiope radon Levi, 1983
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
| |
Argiope radon is a species of orb web spider.[1] It is found in tropical areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland.[2][3] It is commonly known as the Northern St Andrew's cross spider.[4]
Like most orb-weaving spiders, males are much smaller than females. The female grows to around 18 mm in body length while the male is around 6 mm. Females of this species construct web decorations.[4] As of November 2020, there are eighty-one records of Argiope radon listed in the Atlas of Living Australia.[2] They tend to either form aggregations with spiders of the same species or are found as solitary individuals, and their states heavily impact their web decorating abilities. [5]Their webs are heavily affected by humidity, but are less affected by temperature changes.[6]
Description:
The A. radon’s carapace, the hard upper shell portion of their body, is covered in dark brown color at the top and gradually fades into a white color towards the outer-parts of the shell. Their sternum is generally black, except for the middle part which is white. The dorsum of the abdomen is also white and is covered with white hairs. In addition, the abdomen is framed with a dark black color and has black posterior tips.[7]
Habitat and Distribution
Habitat
The A. radons differ from the other Argiope species in that they are found in aggregations around the river-banks and streams. Their web-building occurs near vegetation that overhang the waters.[5]
Geographic distribution
The orb-web spiders, the Argiope radon, are distributed in the Northern territory and Queensland states of Australia. They are found in the semi-arid tropical savanna, which has distinct wet and dry seasons.[5]
Diet
Adult
Predatory feeding
This spider’s model prey are the stingless bees, which are easily attracted to the decorations and colors of the spiders. In addition to simply the colors, the UV reflecting properties on the abdomen also serve as a way to attract prey. However, in general, prey are more likely to approach webs with decorations rather than those that do not have decorations. According to current research, there isn’t a difference in the number of prey that can be caught by either solitary or aggregating spiders over a 10-day period.[5]
Webs
Web type
The A. radons are known orb-web spiders, which means that they create spiral, circular webs in addition to silk decorations. Their orb-webs are also created pointing towards the southeast-northwest plane.[5]
Prey capture technique
The web’s architecture plays a significant role in its ability to perform its functions, especially when the force inputted by the prey is high. Hence, the sparse meshwork found in larger webs are less likely to capture prey. In the high-performing webs, however, the architecture will not be as important.[8]
Though the amount of biomass the webs are able to capture is unrelated to the size of the web at low prey kinetic energy levels, rare and large prey contribute much less to the amount of biomass that is captured. It’s true that there is a selective pathway for how high-performance webs change; large webs with even longer radial threads have the ability to capture even more biomass on the web.[8]
Construction
The effectiveness of their webs vary depending on several different factors. The webs’ ability to stop an intense amount of force for an organism is not impaired by temperature, but can be affected by extreme cases of humidity. Having a too low or too high of a temperature can potentially counter the effects of the webs in capturing prey. Other factors include gravity and interactions that may dampen the webs.[6] Labs have used the values of the common MA silk, which is the toughest silk that the orb-spiders can have, to estimate the ability of the web to absorb impacts that insects can have. To add, the area of the total web can be calculated using the ellipse formula.[5]
Decoration
The decorations on spider webs differ based on several factors such as mating, type of spiders, and many more. These specific spiders are similar to other Argiope species in that they also build silk decorations that are diagonal, starting from the top left of the web to the bottom right side. In additionally, an experiment conducted at Macquarie University found that the satiation levels influenced the length of web decorations and tendency to form aggregations.[5]
Decorations of aggregating spiders were significantly shorter than the decorations of solitary spiders, and spiders that are in aggregations tend to have more variability in their web decorating abilities than the solitary ones. But, there were no significant differences found in the kleptoparasitic load between the aggregating spiders and solitary spiders.[5]
Through a research experiment, it was found that spiders that were less hungry (or more full) built decorations that were longer in length than those that were not fed properly. But, there was not a correlation between satiety and their tendency to aggregate.[5]
Longevity
Due to the tensile properties of these nonlinear patterned webs, the orb-webs are highly functional even after being damaged. These spiders are also able to rapidly repair any damage to the webs. Hence, that’s why their webs are able to last a longer time than most spiders’ webs.[8]
Reproduction and life cycle
Fertilization
There was no evidence that the resting metabolic rate (RMR) of the female’s parents changed how long it takes the females to lay their egg sac after they mate. However, females with higher RMR values had significantly heavier egg sacs.[9]
Brood size
As the age at which females lay their offspring increased, the mass of the egg sacs decreased, regardless of the order in which those egg sacs were laid. But, in general, the size of the eggs for the first egg sac tends to be greater than the size of the second egg. The amount of protein in the eggs, however, do not change with the egg sac order or the age of the female at the time the offspring is born. Usually, total available resources decrease with increased maternal age, which leads to lower egg sac mass and higher emerging time in the egg sacs. But, females are able to compensate for the increased emerging time by creating eggs that are bigger in size. This increase in size of the eggs is what allows these offspring to tolerate starvation better.
There are no significant correlations between the time at which offspring emerged with the egg’s size and its protein content. There also was no significant relationship found between the offspring’s toleration to starvation, size of egg, and egg’s protein content.[10]
Mating
Mate searching behavior
More males tend to be on the webs of females that are a part of aggregations than on the solitary females’ webs. More males preferred to be with females that have web decorations than those that do not.[5]
female/male interaction
Pheromones
Female spiders are known to use sex pheromones to send out signals for mating.[5]
Courting
Male courtship shuttering can influence female mate choice. It’s also found that courtship behaviors that are not as repeated are actually courting behaviors that previously did not have much effect on the female’s mating preferences, and vice versa.[11]
Copulation
Having long copulations helps the males to increase their effectiveness in genital plugging. Hence, female spiders cut down their time copulating with males that are of lower quality. Because of the presence of the “female choice” during copulation, the duration of copulation only plays a minor role in mating success for the male.[11]
Sexual cannibalism
There is a very high risk of cannibalism during courtship, especially for the female web-building spiders. The females are highly aggressive and exhibit sexual cannibalistic behaviors. Males, therefore, are at a high risk for injury when they choose to approach a female. This risk is what leads to a strong level of selection for high repeatability in male courtship signals. These signals of high repeatability help to relay an increased amount of information to the females about the male’s identity and intent. Because females have poor vision but have great sensitivity to signals and vibrations, these repeatable signals through vibrations is key to reducing the risk for male injury.[11]
Social behavior
Spiderling sociality
A. radons are more likely to be found as aggregations rather than as solitary individuals. However, there was not a difference between aggregating spiders and solitary spiders in the variables of body length, web height, and mesh height. But, there are a lot more males per female found in the aggregation spiders than those found in solitary spiders.[5]
Enemies
Predators
The A. radon’s model predators are the blue tits for several reasons. The blue tit’s visual system is well-known and about 20% of their diet is composed of spiders. Their methods for prey capturing include using UV-specific cues as well.[5]
Physiology
Locomotion
Based on a compensation model where there is a fixed amount of energy available, a lowered resting metabolic rate (RMR) is favoured when the spiders are completing activities that require a large amount of energy. However, it does not mean that lower RMR values are more favoured.[9]
Digestion
The Resting metabolic rate (RMR) of the female spiders does not change with age drastically, but it was significantly affected by whether the female spider had mated or not. For example, mated females had RMRs that were significantly reduced by almost 29-35%. In addition, the RMR for both females and males are positively correlated with the offspring’s body mass, though this is merely a correlation.[9]
Bites to humans and animals
Incidence
The Argiope spiders are common spiders in the United States and have minor medical importance. The best way to prevent getting a spider bite is to simply flick the spider. Avoid crushing the spider on the skin because that will only incite the spider’s reflexive response, causing the spiders’ fangs to dig into the skin.[12]
Gallery
-
Male, Litchfield National Park
-
Female, side view
References
- ^ Levi, Herbert W. (1983). "The orb-weaver genera Argiope, Gea, and Neogea from the Western Pacific Region (Araneae: Araneidae, Argiopinae)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 150 (5): 318. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ a b "Argiope radon Levi, 1983". Atlas of Living Australia. Ala.org.au. 1983. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ^ "Argiope radon". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ^ a b Whyte, Robert; Anderson, Greg (2017). A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia. Clayton South Vic. 3169: CSIRO publishing. p. 80. ISBN 9780643107076.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rao, D., Webster, M., Heiling, A.M. et al. The aggregating behaviour of Argiope radon, with special reference to web decorations. J Ethol 27, 35–42 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-007-0080-x
- ^ a b S J Blamires, W I Sellers, Modelling temperature and humidity effects on web performance: implications for predicting orb-web spider (Argiope spp.) foraging under Australian climate change scenarios, Conservation Physiology, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2020, coz083, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coz083
- ^ Levi, Herbert W. “The Orb-Weaver Genera Argiope, Gea, and Neogea from the Western Pacific Region (Araneae: Araneidae, Argiopinae).” Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, vol. 150, no. 5, 22 Dec. 1983.
- ^ a b c Harmer, A., Clausen, P., Wroe, S. et al. Large orb-webs adapted to maximise total biomass not rare, large prey. Sci Rep 5, 14121 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14121
- ^ a b c Ameri, M., Kemp, D.J., Barry, K.L. and Herberstein, M.E. (2020), Is resting metabolic rate related to reproductive output in an orb‐web spider, Argiope radon?. Ecol Entomol, 45: 1044-1052. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12882
- ^ Ameri, M., Kemp, D.J., Barry, K.L. et al. Age-Specific Reproductive Investment and Offspring Performance in an Orb-web Spider, Argiope radon. Evol Biol 46, 207–215 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-019-09476-8
- ^ a b c Anne E. Wignall, Darrell J. Kemp, Marie E. Herberstein, Extreme short-term repeatability of male courtship performance in a tropical orb-web spider, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 25, Issue 5, September-October 2014, Pages 1083–1088, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru083
- ^ Diaz JH, Leblanc KE. Common spider bites. Am Fam Physician. 2007 Mar 15;75(6):869-73. PMID: 17390599.
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