About Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841)
Argiope aetherea (Walckenaer, 1841) is a common, large species of orb-web spider in the family Araneidae. Like other species in the Argiope genus, it is commonly called the St Andrew's Cross spider. This common name comes from the characteristic cross-shaped web decorations that female Argiope aetherea often add to their webs. Argiope aetherea looks similar to Argiope keyserlingi, but female Argiope aetherea are generally larger than female Argiope keyserlingi. Like most orb-web spiders, Argiope aetherea displays significant sexual size dimorphism, with females being many times larger than males. This spider species is distributed across the range from China to Australia.
