Argiope aetherea

Argiope aetherea
Female and male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Araneidae
Genus:	Argiope
Species:	A. aetherea
Binomial name
Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841)
Synonyms
Epeira aetherea Walckenaer, 1841 Argiope regalis L. Koch, 1871 Argiope variabilis Bradley, 1876 Argiope lunata Bradley, 1876 Argiope brownii O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877 Argiope verecunda Thorell, 1878 Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841) Argiope friedericii Strand, 1911 Argiope wolfi Strand, 1911 Argiope maerens Kulczyński, 1911 Argiope udjirica Strand, 1911 Argiope wogeonicola Strand, 1913 Gea rotunda Hogg, 1915 Argiope novae-pommeraniae Strand, 1915

Argiope aetherea is a common, large orb-web spider (family Araneidae). Like other species of Argiope, it is commonly known as the St Andrew's Cross spider, due to the characteristic cross-shaped web decorations female spiders often include in their webs. A. aetherea is similar in appearance to A. keyserlingi, however female A. aetherea are generally larger than A. keyserlingi. Like most orb-web spiders, A. aetherea shows considerable sexual size dimorphism, with females being many times larger than males.

Argiope aetherea is found from China to Australia. It is commonly found along the east coast of Australia, in particular Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.

There exists a subspecies from New Guinea:

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Wikipedia