Argiope trifasciata (Forskål, 1775)
banded garden spider
Females
Immatures or Unknown Sex
How to Identify Argiope trifasciata (Forskål, 1775)
Family: ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895
Genus: Argiope Audouin, 1826
Species: Argiope trifasciata (Forskål, 1775)
Origin of Name: Argiope is derived from Greek, meaning "with bright face or with bright eye" and trifasciata is Latin for "three bands".
Official Common Name: banded garden spider
Males
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Females
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Distinguishing Characteristics
This species can be distinguished from other members of the same genus by its whitish abdomen with numerous, transverse and thin black lines.
Range
Southern British Columbia to Nova Scotia, south to Chile.
Collection Map of Museum Specimens
in The Nearctic Spider Database
Typical Habitats
The web is made in weeds and tall grasses in fields and meadows.
Activity Patterns
Males mature late July to mid-September and females mature late August to autumn frosts. After the first frosts, eggs are deposited in brown, hemispherical cocoons and are attached to the lower parts of shrubs and herbs.
Prey
It has been thought that the web is attractive to adult males of the northern buckmoth (Horton, 1979). Like most spiders, this species is a generalist predator. Others have noted aggregations of A. trifasciata with high prey density (Olive, 1982).
Extra Reading
Horton, C. C. 1979. Apparent attraction of moths by the webs of araneid spiders. Journal of Arachnology 7: 88. 
Olive, C. W. 1982. Behavioral response of a sit-and-wait predator to spatial variation in foraging gain. Ecology 63: 912-920.
Other Web Pages
Arthropods of Orange County, California: Banded argiope (http://mamba.bio.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/spiders/Argiope%20trifasciata.htm)
The Nearctic Spider Database (http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/15415)
Recent Submissions
Observation: An adult male A. trifasciata was found resting in the eaves of a local elementary school by several children and identified by R.J. Adams. The spider was resting directly on the wall and no orb web was visible. Seaside, Monterey Co., CA. (36.605081, -121.829002)
Discuss (0)Observation:
An adult female Banded Garden Spider was found in her web in a lupin bush on the California State University Monterey Bay campus this morning (36.649587, -121.791729) (13-Nov., 2007). In the same bush were two Labyrinth Spiders (Meteperia sp.) (Areanidae).
R.J. Adams