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Jewel Spider - Austracantha minax &nnbsp;
FAMILY ARANEIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about Jewel Spiders that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 12mm
- Jewel Spiders are also known as Christmas spiders and Spiny Spiders. They can be found in summer, around Christmas time in Brisbane. Their abdomen has bright yellow and white patterns on black back ground. There are six spines on their back.
- Jewel Spiders build vertical orb web about one to two meters about ground. The radius of their webs are denser then other spider's. It could be because of their short legs. They sit at the centre of their webs from day to night.
- On interesting thing about the web of this Jewel Spider is that the spider seems 'deliberately' make the support silk lines visible. Their orb webs are invisible, or hard to be seen, as most other spider webs. However, for the anchor threads which support their webs, there are many white dots on the silk, about 20mm apart. There is an advantages to the web because the large animals, such as human, will see those silk lines and not accentually walk into and destroy the web.
