Our Bugs's Life #11 - Conversations with the Bugman Part 4

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All photos by me, Ridou Ridou - and all the great answers to my questions about bugs in our 

garden and home by the great 'Bugman' (www.whatsthatbug.com)

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ST. ANDREW’S CROSS SPIDER FROM AUSTRALIA

February 21, 2010

Hi again, I thought of checking out how many posts you’ve got on St. Andrew’s Cross Spiders, and was surprised to see 

only one (from Singapore). They are very common at our place, so I thought of taking some fresh photos of them for your 

site, but came across another spider that I haven’t seen before here, and took photos of it. So, I’m sending you a couple 

of older images that I’ve taken of the St. Andrews. Hope you can use them.

Ridou Ridou

Sydney Australia

St. Andrew's Cross Spider

Hi Ridou,

Thanks for the excellent images.  We believe we had additional images of St. Andrew’s Cross Spiders, Argiope 

keyserlingi, and they might have gotten lost when we did a website migration last year.  We may check our old computer 

for the posts.  The Brisbane Insect website has nice images and helpful information on this species.

St. Andrew's Cross Spider

GOLDEN SILK SPIDER IN AUSTRALIA: NEPHILA ORNATA POSSIBLY

A sizable new spider at our backyard.

February 21, 2010

Hi Bugman, here are a couple of photos of a species of spiders I don’t remember seeing at our Sydney backyard before. 

Would you be able to id it, please.

Ridou Ridou

Sydney Australia

Golden Silk Spider

Goodness gracious Ridou, you are keeping us busy,

This beauty is a female Golden Silk Spider in the genus Nephila.  There are numerous species in Australia, and we are 

not certain exactly what species this is.  The Spiders of Australia website has several identified and unidentified 

members of the genus.  We believe this might be Nephila ornata based on images posted on the Nature Stuff website.

Golden Silk Spider

The Brisbane Insect website has nice images of several other members in the genus.

Golden Silk Spider

CRAB SPIDER FROM AUSTRALIA: SIDYMELLA RUBROSIGNATA

A tiny green Australian spider

February 19, 2010

Hi again,

I quite like this small ‘two-headed green frog spider’ I found inside our house. Would you be able to identify it?

Best,

Ridou

Ridou Ridou

Sydney Australia

Crab Spider

Hi again Ridou,

This is a Crab Spider in the family Thomisidae, and there are several species pictured on the Brisbane Insect Website.  

We are uncertain as to what species you have submitted, and part of our confusion arises from the variability of many 

species.  One North American species known as the Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vatia, is known to be able to 

change its coloration based on the color of the flower or plant upon which it prowls for prey.  You can see some of these 

variations on BugGuide.  Crab Spiders are easily identified because the two pairs of front legs are considerably longer 

than the two pairs of hind legs.  We found many nice images of Crab Spiders on the Save Our Waterways website, and 

there is where we believe we matched your spider to Sidymella rubrosignata.  An image on Wikipedia supports that 

identification.

Our Bug's Life #10: Paper Wasp from Australia Attacks Photographer

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This is an update on my discussion (the previous post, here) with the Bugman 

(www.whatsthatbug.com) on the subject of Paper Wasps:

PAPER WASP FROM AUSTRALIA ATTACKS PHOTOGRAPHER

Posted by bugman February 12th, 2010 at 11:45 pm

Categories

Paper Wasps

Tags

WTB Down Under?

February 12, 2010

Well, encouraged by your kind words about my photos, I decided to take my current ‘project’ to 

the next stage: I’ve been photographing these wasps building their nest outside our house, behind 

a window, and today I thought of taking some outside photos of the progress. I removed the fly 

screen, stepped on the windowsill, and stretched my hand out with the camera to record detailed 

images of the geometric components of their nest. Surprise, surprise, the wasps didn’t like it. 

They suddenly turned on my camera, all of them in line, pointing and shaking their whiskers 

towards it, and before me realising what was happening, they made their move. I broke my 

camera when I dropped it, and I’m now tendering about three wasp bites on my swollen arm and 

fingers.

I think my camera memory card is still OK, so hopefully the nest photos are still there! In the 

meantime, can you identify my attackers from this earlier image:

Best,

Ridou

Australian Paper Wasp.

Hi Ridou,

We are so sorry to hear about your unfortunate encounter with these Paper Wasps in the genus 

Polistes.  We believe they may be the Australian Paper Wasp, Polistes humilis.  The Brisbane 

Insect Website has some amazing photographs of this species.  Paper Wasps are not normally 

aggressive, but they will attack and sting if the nest is threatened.

Hi Bugman,

In case you’re interested: here are two images that I managed to get from my broken camera’s 

memory card: they were taken at the time when I dropped my camera because of the attack by 

these paper wasps… The first image shows the structure of the nest they’re building, and the 

second shows them lining up to defend it.

Best,

Ridou

Australian Paper Wasp Nest.

Hi again Ridou,

Do you know if the second nest was from the previous year?

Australian Paper Wasp Nest.

Yes, it was… Ridou