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Comments & ID Thoughts
Argyrodes
Some days ago, I noticed the web on the corner of a rundown common room to be empty of its spider. Then just yesterday, a small grasshopper got caught in the empty web. But just today, when I thought of removing the insect to place it on another spider's web, I was surprised by some movement and a silver glint. This is the spider now living in the web. It wasn't the original spider that spun the web either. Apologies for the low quality photo.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Jan 16, 2023
- Photographed: Jan 17, 2023
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Capihan, San Rafael, Bulacan, Philippines
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
This is really interesting! I’m impressed that you already know the genus too.
https://bioone.org/journals/invertebrate-systematics/volume-28/issue-4/IS14010/Evolution-of-host-use-group-living-and-foraging-behaviours-in/10.1071/IS14010.short The link is to a research paper on the genetic analysis of the possible evolution of the behaviors of this genus.
The conclusion of the study is that they found the evolutionary correlation between spiders that live in groups and spiders that use other species’ large webs.
Argyrodes is a genus in family Theridiidae, like Steatoda and Latrodectus.
They use or steal other spiders’ webs and sometimes kill the spiders that make the webs.
A common name is Dew Drop Spiders.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.7910 This is a very detailed research paper on the evolutionary distribution of Argyrodes lanyvenis in the Philipines. It uses 9 different related species for genetic and morphological comparison. That means that we can’t accurately ID to species level from a photo, unfortunately. Ozone, do you know what kind of spider made the web? Part of the evolution of these spiders is the host webs they chose. Thank you for posting the photo, ID, and your observations. We didn’t have this genus yet in our confirmed sightings for the Philippines and I just learned a lot from looking up more… Read more »
The host was a brown, orb-weaving spider common in households, but I don’t know anything specific beyond that point.
I don’t know much about spiders, but it piqued my interest because it was unique, especially its coloration.
Update: There are now three of the same spiders sharing the web. The first one I saw was the biggest. The other two are on the smaller side. What I do note though is that the smaller two seem to have longer front legs.
Thank you for the update! A colony may forming now that the web has been stolen. I read that they usually steal orbweaver ( Araneidae) or cobweaver (Theridiidae) webs. The original Dew Drop Spider is probably female. Male spiders are less likely to have need for a big web. Male spiders tend to have longer legs relative to body size than females. It’s both defense and offense. Females are larger and eat more to nurture their eggs. A male that comes courting risks his life. Males usually approach face-to- face and they can actually mate that way. They are at… Read more »
i know this spider and has seen dozens of different shapes of it but i dont know the species yet