Lepen garden spider (Argiope pictula)

Lepen garden spider (Argiope pictula) is an animal species in the Araneidae, a medium sized insect, a spider that often has a striking color, carapace covered in reflective silvery hair, lives in tropical regions in environments of running water in forests, farmlands, parks and human settlements.

A. pictula perched on the net with its head down, has a carapace that is square with three corners on the top, flat, yellow surface with several brown lines, has black four-dot markings.

The head is shaped like a semicircle, brown with silvery white hair. Lepen garden spider has eight legs and is often attached so that it appears only four. The legs have joints, are brown in color and have white coarse hairs.

The net is pure white with the center being 1 meter above the water or ground. A. pictula sits in the middle of the net during the day to wait for prey and avoid predators. They eat insects to small bats.

Females are larger than males. The female places 400-1400 eggs into the mesh bag. The egg sac consists of several layers of silk and protects the contents from being damaged.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Infraorder: Entelegynae
Superfamily: Araneoidea
Family: Araneidae
Subfamily: Argiopinae
Genus: Argiope
Species: Argiope pictula

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False nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica)

False nettle ( Boehmeria cylindrica ) is a species of plant in the Urticaceae family, a herb or small shrub, up to 160 cm tall, usually monoecious but rarely dioecious. The leaves are paired or alternate, and the inflorescence is a spikelet with a cluster of small bracts at the tip. B. cylindrica generally grows to a height of 50-100 cm. Spine-like hairs form in the leaf axils. The leaves are oval and up to 10 cm long and 4 cm wide. The flowers are green or greenish-white and emerge from the upper leaf axils. Male and female flowers usually grow on separate plants. Male flowers are more numerous among the spikes in clusters. Female flowers are less evenly distributed along the spikes. The small, oval seeds are covered with small, hook-like hairs. Ripe seeds are dark brown. The inflorescence resembles a spike and is up to 3 cm long. This species can be found in moist to mesic deciduous forest habitats, growing abundantly along streambanks, floodplains, and lowlands. B. cylindrica is ...

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