Talk:Argiope (spider)

Rewrite
I reordered the information, but I'm still not sure what info belongs to the genus, and which belongs to individual species (eg. that they build the net belt-high). The original article mixed this a lot. --Sarefo 02:15, 31 July 2006 (UTC)


 * It may be difficult to make absolute statements. Most of them that I see mentioned in books at hand are around an inch high, which means that they have to have enough space to make their webs, i.e., the center of the web has to be at least a couple of feet off the ground.  I've never seen them making webs in the branches of trees. They need two fairly closely spaced "poles" to build between, and usually that is two tall weeds that grow up as a single stalk with leaves rather than branches. I think that's just because that kind of vegetation is the most likely thing to be available.  A couple of fence posts spaced a few feet apart would be just as likely to work for them, but you don't often find that kind of configuration available.


 * In Taiwan there is some kind of an orb weaver that builds in the tall  ʕ  -shaped street lamp poles, up at the top of the arc above the roof line of one- and two-story buildings. The webs appear to be about 5 feet in diameter, and the spiders look huge. I suppose they must have been Nephilla. The Nephilla build extremely tough webs, and I'm guessing that they catch the occasional wren not to mention dragon flies, butterflies, large moths, etc. Different things fly at that altitude.


 * I've seen Araneus build high. They like to build in doorways and above my own height. I've seen that pattern in Brooklyn and in my backyard here in North Carolina.  They also build where there is a light to attract night time guests.  Argiope seldom builds in these places. I think I've seen pictures of webs built near houses in gardens, but they seem to head for the prairie settings.


 * One of the odd things about lots of the websites put up by people with real credentials is that they may not give the approximate lengths or typical lengths of the spiders they feature. If there are half-inch or quarter-inch Argiope then I would expect to find their webs nearer to the ground.


 * The Leucauge that flourish around here are tiny things. They love to build their webs near the tops of garbage cans that have been left with their lids off. The cans are just the right size for them. An Argiope would never build there because (1) there just isn't enough room, and (2) they seem to pick places where wandering rabbits will kick up grasshoppers and other prey that will then collide with their webs. An Argiope could conceivably build a web at the top of one of the semi-circular street light poles, but she would waste huge amounts of silk to bridge across the 5 foot diameter, and her web would likely get holed right away by the next sparrow heading that way.  P0M 00:58, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Banana spiders
As kids in Louisiana we called these Bannana spiders. They were the bane of all boys who rode bikes fast down forest trails. --DanielCD 21:49, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

When I was a child in Indiana we also called them Bannana Spiders. I imagine it was due to the yellow markings.Harmon1630

edit

 * It would be an interesting experiment to see whether animals such as deer walk around them if they are on their path; if a human or other rather large creature walks through a web, then the spider's weaving job is demolished.

It would be an interesting experiment! But, I removed this line from the article.... :) MisterSheik 04:39, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Experiment or just mere observation; here in Florida, Wildlife seem to pay no attention to spider's orbs. And since most spiders do not attack that which just demolished their webs, wildlife usually share no fear of the spider they occasionally pick up. From what I have seen, usually orb-weaving spiders such as the Argiope genus will drop to the ground if they feel they are in danger. However I have witnessed a young black bear with two A. Aurantia on her back as she scurried through the thicket (and the spider's webs) to get away from the humans. Ke4cpc (talk) 18:58, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Some pictures
I'm not sure but I think those pictures could be included in the article: Talk:Spider Ajor 16:12, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Picture Gallery
Unfortunately, this article has gotten out of hand as a vanity picture gallery. The profusion of misplaced and poor quality images will be placed in a gallery, where they can be weeded out or ignored as required. Comments? Nickrz 14:16, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree. After they've been gallery-ized, we can start a discussion about which ones could stand to be taken out completely. Joyous! | Talk 23:53, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Material copied from other source
I removed the following, both because it is copied verbatim from another website and also because the Wikipedia article on the topic is itself inconclusive on the function of stabilimenta.
 * "Stabilimenta are conspicuous lines or spirals of silk, included by many diurnal spiders at the center of their otherwise cryptic webs. It has been shown spider webs using stabilimenta catch, on average, 34% fewer insects than those without. However, webs with the easily-visible markings are damaged far less frequently by birds flying through the web. It is an evolutionary tradeoff the spider can influence every time it builds a new web. The inclusion of stabilimenta is influenced by many factors, including prey density and web location. " IstvanWolf (talk) 12:01, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Pictures in the text
Well, the article was jammed with pics, so a gallery was created. And a message to that effect was left on this page. Notwithstanding, another editor shoved all the pics back into the text, worse than before, because they obviously didn't bother to look to see what effect it had on the text. Why don't people use the Show preview option?

I'm recreating the gallery. Amandajm (talk) 09:05, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

White markings in web
Could they also function to make the spider appear bigger. As the spider sits on the cross and the cross extends further out. Maybe fool other creatures that the spider is much larger than it is? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.148.144.15 (talk) 22:53, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

It is a disputed topic for sure as to the exact function of the Stabilimenta. I would appreciate further discussion on the topic. I have observed for the A. Aurantia species, their linear stabilimentum only appears on mature females' web, while the juveniles (both sex) have a center circular stabilimentum only. Ke4cpc (talk) 19:04, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Gangandbang Ekis?
"In the Antarctic, it is known as "gangandbang ekis", which translates to "X spider".", says the article. Could this be confirmed, sourced, and could someone also clarify exactly what language "gangandbang ekis" is in, considering that the Antarctic doesn't have a native language? It just seems odd... Anyway, any clarification would be nice (even if this isn't the most important article on the site). Thank you, -Liwolf1 (talk) 13:57, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Alright, this appears to have been solved, thanks for fixing it, Dger. I've no other criticisms of this article. Thank you, -Liwolf1 (talk) 15:59, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 08:12, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Jeanette spider lay eggs in human
the Black widow with the yellow on it the 174.247.208.129 (talk) 19:21, 3 October 2023 (UTC)