Araniella displicata - is it a male?

[Bruce Williams]

Stockgrove Country Park, Beds.

Size ~5mm

I'd photographed two female A. displicata over the last couple of weeks and now I really wanted to find a male. So yesterday I made another visit to Stockgrove in the hope of finding one. Well it turned out to be the quietest (dry) day for months . Aside from the usual clusters of hibernating 7-spot ladybirds the cupboard was almost bare. However about 40 mins into the walk I saw this orange spot near the top of a fence post. It was a face-down A. displicata. It had a fat abdomen so I thought it was another female.

Anyway I got in quite a few shots - unfortunately all with the same posture as (other than sticking out a leg) it refused to be coaxed into moving. It was only when I saw the shots on screen and noticed the fat pedipalps that I thought it might be a male. I was expecting the male to have a smaller, narrower abdomen (I'm no expert) - so this made me less confident in assigning gender.

I thought that I'd check with our experts before loading to the Gallery.



Here's a comparison with the spider in my earlier post:



I've seen this species referred to as the Six-spotted Orbweaver on several American websites. Do we use the same common name in the UK?

Bruce

[Jason Green]

Afternoon Bruce,

Very male-looking to me. As for the vernacular, I can only find the Six-spotted Orb-weaver name referencing American sites too. One for the Arachnid experts I think!

Take care,

Jason

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Jason.

Bruce