Argiope picta L. Koch, 1871 Northern St Andrews Cross

A common medium-to-large orb weaver found in northern Australia in rainforest margins, open forest, heathland, houses and gardens. It is very similar to the St Andrews Cross spider Argiope keyserlingi found in southern and eastern areas, the two ranges overlapping. Zig-zag ribbons of bluish-white silk form a full or partial cross (stabilimentum) through the centre of the orb web. This cross gives the spider Its common name. Females have a silvery carapace and a silver, yellow, black and brown banded upper abdomen with two longitudinal yellow stripes below. At rest, legs are held in pairs. A keyserlingi has more red and smaller white dots in the central transverese reddish dark band. A. picta is more strongly yellow with very large white blobs reversed out of the central transverse band, and thick bands of yellow or whitish yellow above and below this central dark band. A keyserling has red fringing the yellow bands on the anterior edge of the upper abdomen, A. picta only had red in the posterior or rea section of the upper surface of the abdomen. The mostly brown coloured males of both species are much smaller and essentially indistinguishable from each other to the naked eye. Prey includes flies, moths, butterflies, bugs and bees. Responds to disturbance by dropping from the web or shaking it vigorously. Named by Friedrich Karsch in 1878 from the Greek Argiope, a nymph. The species name refers to the bright blobs, looking as though painted. ♀ 16mm ♂ 5mm.