About Nephilengys papuana Thorell, 1881
Nephilengys papuana was previously treated as the subspecies Nephilengys malabarensis papuana within Nephilengys malabarensis, but it is currently recognized as a distinct species. Females of this species reach a body length of approximately 28 mm, while males measure around 6 mm in body length. Male Nephilengys papuana spiders appear to perform self-emasculation after copulation. At least in the Nephilengys genus, this self-emasculation strategy enables remote copulation, which allows sperm transfer to continue after males detach from the copula. This mechanism functions to secure paternity for the emasculated male spiders, called eunuchs (Li et al. 2012). While eunuchs of Nephilengys papuana have not been tested experimentally, early research documented observed cases of post-mating emasculation in this species (Robinson and Robinson 1980). This means its behavior is likely very similar to the behavior of its sister species. This species is distributed in New Guinea and tropical Queensland, Australia.
