Silver argiope
The silver argiope has a shiny silver front that sparkles in the sun. It sits in the middle of its web with its legs held together in pairs, making the shape of a big X. It even decorates its web with zigzag lines.
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Fun facts
It weaves zigzag ribbons into its web, often four of them making an X shape.
Its silk shines in ultraviolet light, which insects can see. This makes the web look a bit like a flower to them.
In California it loves to build its web on prickly pear cactus.
Most asked questions about Silver argiope
?Why does the silver argiope put zigzags in its web?
Scientists are still finding out. The bright silk may help attract insects that visit flowers.
?How big is a silver argiope?
A female is about 12 millimetres long, and the male is about three times smaller.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Argiope argentata
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1775
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Silver garden spider
Where the facts come from
- Argiope argentata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by WillWig at English Wikipedia. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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