Leucauge fastigata

Leucauge fastigata, the pear-shaped leucauge, is a species of spiders in the family Tetragnathidae (long-jawed orb weavers). Its native range extends from India to the Philippines and Sulawesi.

Leucauge fastigata
Picture taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Tetragnathidae
Genus:	Leucauge
Species:	L. fastigata
Binomial name
Leucauge fastigata (Simon, 1877)
Subspecies
Leucauge fastigata fastigata (Simon, 1877) Leucauge fastigata korinchica (Hogg, 1919)
Synonyms
Argyroepeira fastigata (Pocock, 1900) Argyroepeira fastigiata (Simon, 1894) Argyroepeira fastuosa (Merian, 1911) Callinethis elegans (Thorell, 1895) Callinethis fastuosa (Thorell, 1890) Leucauge fastigata (Tikader, 1982) Leucauge fastigiata (Simon, 1905) Leucauge fastuosa (Roewer, 1938) Meta elegans (Thorell, 1877) Meta fastigata (Simon, 1877) Meta fastuosa (Thorell, 1877) Opadometa fastigata (Zhu, Song & Zhang, 2003) Opadometa fastigiata (Archer, 1951)

Members of the species have silvery or golden spots on the abdomen. They are elongated spiders with long legs and chelicerae.

They are orb web weavers, weaving small orb webs with an open hub and few, wide-set radii and spirals. The webs have no signal line and no retreat. The web is a large horizontally-placed orb structure with a diameter of more than a metre. The entire web is often suspended by several long strands of silk attached to branches and leaves nearby.

This species is separated from other Leucauge spiders by its pear-shaped abdomen and its unique fourth leg. In addition to the two rows of curved hairs (characteristic of Leucauge), this leg also has a thick brush of spines which are not present in most other species of Leucauge.

Webs