Kingdom Animalia Class Arachnida Family Theridiidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Araneae Genus Argyrodes | |
Similar Argyrodes flavescens, Cyrtophora unicolor, Cyrtophora exanthematica, Argyrodes, Argyrodes kumadai | ||
Argyrodes fissifrons (split-faced silver spider) is a species of spider of the genus Argyrodes. It is found in Sri Lanka to China and Australia.
Contents
Description
Female is larger than the male, about 12mm. Abdomen is triangular, and spinnerets pointing downwards and the hind-end pointing backwards. The body has silvery spots and has long and thin legs. Male has bumps on their head. After mating, male seals the epigyne of the female with a resin plug to inhibit further copulation.
Ecology
A kleptoparasitic spider, it sometimes preys upon its host spider Agelena limbata, during or just after molting of the host. However, this species is much smaller than the host. Recently, scientists found that their association with Cyrtophora spider webs, from Orchid Island, of Taiwan. Scientists finally found that A. fissifrons scavenge on webs of Cyrtophora hosts by collecting small preys ignored by the hosts.