I am fairly sure this is an Argiope orb weaver….Based on your location the leg banding and the pattern….I am quietly confident that it is Argiope australis…not certain because different Argiopes can look very similar underneath and I am not very well versed with other possible Argiopes in your region…see the link…there are 2 pictures of A australis front and back. You can toggle between the u using the thumbnails underneath https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/196186400
Great link! I agree that the leg and ventral markings and geographic range match Argiope australis. I filed it to genus because spiders in the General taxon often share similar ventral markings. If we receive a dorsal photo I can file it to the Specific taxon
If you go down to the bottom right of the link…to observations of relatives……there is a picture of a confused Trichonophilia male !! mating with an A australis female….she seems distracted with a meal.
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I am fairly sure this is an Argiope orb weaver….Based on your location the leg banding and the pattern….I am quietly confident that it is Argiope australis…not certain because different Argiopes can look very similar underneath and I am not very well versed with other possible Argiopes in your region…see the link…there are 2 pictures of A australis front and back. You can toggle between the u using the thumbnails underneath https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/196186400
Great link! I agree that the leg and ventral markings and geographic range match Argiope australis. I filed it to genus because spiders in the General taxon often share similar ventral markings. If we receive a dorsal photo I can file it to the Specific taxon
If you go down to the bottom right of the link…to observations of relatives……there is a picture of a confused Trichonophilia male !! mating with an A australis female….she seems distracted with a meal.
@Mchawiman if you have a photo of the spider from the other side ( top of the spider) please post it like a new submission.