Dome Spider

Description:

Araneidae; Cyrtophora; Cyrtophora cicatrosa Stoliczka, 1869. This spider is extremely small and creates a three-dimentional web which looks, at first glance, like a tangled mess of spider silk. On closer inspection, the main part of the web is dome shaped and the spider seems to spend most of its time there. I am not entirely sure, but I think that the rest of the web provides both protection from predators and communication channels to neighbouring webs. This is a social spider which seems to live in colonies, consisting of several webs, all on the same plant. I have not come across much scientific information on this spider and what I have described is mostly based on my personal observations. So, please do not take my opinions as scientific facts. In our front garden, there are two, long established colonies, each with several webs and in the backyard, there is one colony (that I know of) which includes the web shown here. There is also a solitary web, with no apparent connection to others, in a corner of our vegetable plot. So, what I have said here is mostly based on observations of these webs/colonies.

Habitat:

Spotted in our backtard on a Variegated croton (Codiaeum variegatum) known as Sagilala in the Philippines. Plant information from - http://www.stuartxchange.com/Sagilala

Notes:

Pic #1. Shows four egg sacs hanging in the middle of the web. Pic #2. The female, suspended upside-down, directly under the egg sacs, possibly guarding them. Pic #3. The exuvia of the female from a recent moult. Pic #4. Shows the eggs, the spider and its moult, all in the central part of the web.