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April 29, 2006: Argyrodes flavescens, a kleptoparasite

This was the day of reckoning. I had had it with myself, my inability to identify these little orange spiders. Friday afternoon, I gave a talk: Googling, Flickring and RSSing - tools that enable Internet-centric learning at the 16th Annual Scientific Meeting (SingHealth). Sunday when I was maxed out with frustration, it seemed time to practice what I was preaching. I first searched Google Images with the key words: orange spider and did not have much success. Then I used Google text search where I found a paper Silk feeding as an alternative foraging tactic in a kleptoparasitic spider and the work klepto jumped out at me, from the Greek for theft. I downloaded the paper and it contained "Argyrodes flavescens" so I did an image search using the key words Argyrodes flavescens Singapore and the first image was my little orange spider. Not only that, the web link linked to the National University of Singapore and Joseph Koh (see below). So once again, Google did me right, I'm off on another adventure to capture behavior of these little orange spiders (which they call Red Silver spiders) and see if I can find them stealing an insect from the host web or eating the host web silk.

It all starts at a nearby food court where I get a little lime juice

apr 29 0557 food court

And across the street is my little insect observatory. Here I suspect that Argyrodes flavescens may be eating

apr 29 0506 argyrodes eating maybe

Here is one of the host webs - a sort of 3D thing. Very complicated and more or less horizontal - unlikely from Nephila.
This adventure has circled back. Today (Aug 25, 2007) Joseph Koh provided some new insights as to the nature of this web: 

"The three dimensional web hosting Argyrodes flavescens is built by
Cyrtophora unicolor (Family Araneidae). Judging from the freshness of the
web, I suspect that the spider was actually still hiding inside one of the
folded or curled leaves suspended in the middle of the web when you
photographed it. Check it out the next time you see another Cyrtophora web.
More about the web in page 48 of my little (outdated) book "A Guide to
Common Singapore Spiders". If you are lucky, you may even find a Portia
(page 123) predating on eggs and spiderings of the host spider."

apr 29 0567 host web

A closer view

apr 29 0571 web

Here is our little kleptoparasite - and perhaps something in her mouth

apr 29 0582 argyrodes

Another view

apr 29 0589 orange spider

Here she looks like she is pulling a silk thread toward her mouth - for a tasty treat?

apr 29 0596 orange side

It was a nice day and I could get under her. Here she is with the trees in the background. But the sky looked like a better background

apr 29 0620 orange sky

And because the sun was to my back, she was not a black silhouette - but you could see her orange body

apr 29 0622 in sky

Then I thought - hmm - she is almost flying upside down. This should be a fun photo

apr 29 0624 orange sky

With a bit of acrobatics

apr 29 0625 orange sky

Its morning, May 1, Labor day here in Singapore so I'm off to try to catch these little guys in the act of stealing or eating silk

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C. Frank Starmer

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