What a surprise. I went out about 3pm - just as the rain started. Bummer.
When I got to my spot, I started my Nephila hunt and the first
web - WOW - a male starting the mating game. Matjaz Kunter (from the
University of Slovenia) and Li Daiqin (from NUS) provided some hints about
mating behavior. The male wraps the female head with silk. I had seen
this earlier but not recognized it. This time, I used my 180mm lens and
got a closer look at the male and female. No wrapping yet, but what I
found was a surprise. There is a white line along the long axis of the
dorsal side of the female abdomen. In one of my photos, I could see that
the male was anchoring himself to the females dorsal side. My speculation
is that this white line represent the dragline anchor points of the male.
You be the judge.
Here is an overview and size scale of the male-female positioning and the web. The fale is located over her left rear leg (orangish spider) and is about 1/50th the size of the female.
from the side
A closer view. About the silk strand along the midline of the female abdomen. This looks to be too large to have been placed by the male. Is this from the female (you can see in the upper left that it appears to wrap around her abdomen and directed toward her spinneret) and a signal to male(s) that its time to start mating? Does it provide anchor points for the males?
And and even closer view
Here is a view of the female Nephila with the male. Note the black palps and the hint of a dragline from his spinneret that is connected to the white more-or-less vertial trace of spider silk.
Though not well focused, you can see what appears to be silk connecting the male with the dorsal side of the female. (It could also be an out of focus leg segment).
There was very interesting behavior. Every few minutes, the female would sort of do a dance with her legs as if trying to clear something from the air. Here her legs are raised.
Look at the white vertical silk strand. It is separated from the surface of her dorsal abdomen - as if stretched tighly from the rear of her abdomen to the hum uner the male abdomen - and under the rear male leg, suggesting that this is an anchor line used by the male
Here he moves backward - and what I thought was silk from his spinneret is a segment of one of her rear legs.
and then moves forward over her cephalo-thorax
A closer view. Lookling closely at the silk strand on her dorsal surface, is it possible that she actually placed this as a signal that the mating game should start. Looking to the left, it appears to wrap around her abdomen, perhaps terminating at her spinneret. After a while he left her and retreated to the top of the web.
as shown here. Note again the size scale and the black palps of the male.
Here he is doing some sort of acrobatics - note the black color of his palps.
Here he appears manipulating a strand of silk
More acrobatics
And here she is without her male suitor
Marching along the edge of the forest, I found another web with Argyrodes so it is probably an older web. This little guy was hanging around the top and I think that perhaps it is a male Nephila?
One of the 5 or 6 Argyrodes
Another view of the male Argyrodes
Another one
and true to their reputation - here is a hole created by the Argyrodes - clearly an indication that tasty treats were not available
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