The female was originally described by Koch in 1843 from specimens collected in the East Indies. The prosoma is dark ocher-yellow with lighter ocher-yellow legs that have black spiny setae. The opisthosoma is slender and brownish in color. The body length measures approximately 2.25 inches (about 6 cm) according to Koch's original description.[2]
Modern descriptions of females show a total length of 3.65–6.90 mm. The carapace is yellow with inconspicuous dark patches and measures about 2.05 mm long and 1.60 mm wide. The abdomen is shield-shaped and darker than the carapace, typically with two white spots at the front. The epigyne is distinctive, being about 1.3 times wider than long with a clear central dividing structure separating two depressions.[3]
Male
The male of G. spinipes was first described by van Hasselt in 1882 under the name Pronous chelifer.[4] Males are smaller than females, with a total length of 3.25–4.00 mm. The carapace is yellow and measures about 1.95 mm long and 1.70 mm wide. The abdomen is shield-shaped, approximately 1.54 times longer than wide, and dark with two white spots at the front. The legs are yellow to yellowish-brown, with the third and fourth pairs showing dark bands.[3]
The male pedipalp has several distinctive features including a finger-like structure and a prominent, twisted embolus that makes approximately one complete turn.[3]
Taxonomy
Gea spinipes has a complex taxonomic history with several synonyms.[5] The species was first described by C. L. Koch in 1843, but over the following decades, several other species were described that were later found to be the same species.[5] In 1983, Herbert Levi conducted a comprehensive revision and synonymized Argiope chelifera Thorell, 1890, Gea decorata Thorell, 1890, Gea festiva Thorell, 1895, and Gea festiva nigrifrons Simon, 1901 with G. spinipes.[5]
Recent studies suggest that G. spinipes as currently understood may represent a species complex, as specimens from different geographical locations show variations in genital structures.[3]
↑ Hasselt, A. W. M. van (1882). "Araneae". In Veth, P. J. (ed.). Midden-Sumatra 4A(11). Reizen en onderzoekingen der Sumatra-expeditie. Leiden: Brill. pp.1–56. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.119451.
1 2 3 Levi, H. 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): 247–338.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
