#austracantha

A beautiful Jewel Spider (Austracantha minax). Endemic to Australia, and the sole species of the genus Austracantha.

These macros turned out surprisingly good, considering she was moving around so much. I like that you can see her feet hooked around the strands of silk as she's climbing.

Australian jewel spider - Austracantha Minax

its been about a year since I last saw an Austracantha, and I was beginning to think they wouldn't appear where we now live, surrounded by pastureland with few tall trees suitable for orbweavers. I'm glad this small lady proved otherwise!

Jewel orbs are always a delight to find. being so small (females no larger than 12mm, and males about 5mm) but adorned with such intricate patterning, and of course their characteristic arrangement of six large spines on the abdomen, they certainly live up to their namesake.

a melanistic form of these spiders can appear in autumn which looks absolutely stunning, so I plan to put a lot of effort into finding one over the next few months!

a male Austracantha! a tiny (half a centimeter long), wonderful little man who would not sit still for pictures, in classic wandering-male-spider fashion.

if you squint at him, he somewhat resembles the females, except much more toned-down in both his colour and the length of his abdominal spines, and sporting a pair of large round pedipalps.

I've spotted about 5 female A. minax in the garden so far, so here's hoping he'll find at least one of them in his travels.

and here's what the females look like: