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Araneidae Neoscona

Neoscona vigilans (Blackwall, 1865)

Variable Orb Weaver

This species appears similar to N. nautica and N. punctigera in body shape, but most individuals are much larger. The carapace is covered with long hairs. The legs are hairy and spiny, especially in the males which habitually retract the first two pairs of legs, yoga style. As the size, patterns and colouration are highly variable in both sexes, the species can be identified only by examining its genitalia.

LengthHighly variable. ♀ 10–18 mm; ♂ 9–11 mm.
HabitatTrees and shrubs in shady parts of gardens, scrubland and secondary forests.
BiologyNocturnal. Hides in a curled leaf during the day. Egg sacs are woolly in appearance.
Type LocalityEast Africa.
DistributionWidespread, including South East Asia, Eastern Africa.

Taxonomy

Type Depositories

  1. Holotype

    College of Environment and Plant Protection, Hainan University (HANU), Haikou, China; ♂ of Neoscona xiquanensis (Barrion et al., 2013)

Taxonomic references

  1. Epeira hispida (Original description ♀; preoccupied by C. L. Koch, 1844, see Eriophora fuliginea)

    Doleschall, 1859 Tweede Bijdrage tot de kennis der Arachniden van den Indischen Archipel: 33, pl. 2, f. 5

  2. Epeira vigilans (Original description ♀)

    Blackwall, 1865b Descriptions of recently discovered species and characters of a new genus, of Araneida from the east of Central Africa: 342 doi:10.1080/00222936508679441

  3. Epeira decens (Original description ♀; preoccupied by Blackwall, 1866, see Kilima decens)

    Thorell, 1877b Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani: 379

  4. Epeira rumpfii (Original description ; preoccupied by Scopoli, 1763 sub Aranea, see Marpissa muscosa)

    Thorell, 1878b Studi sui ragni Malesi e Papuani: 296

  5. Epeira rufo-femorata (Original description ♀)

    Simon, 1884n Arachnides recueillis en Birmanie par M: 348, f. 6

  6. Epeira hispida stragulata (Original description )

    Thorell, 1887 Viaggio di L: 180

  7. Araneus spenceri (Original description ♀)

    Pocock, 1898c The Arachnida from the province of Natal, South Africa, contained in the collection of the British Museum: 209, pl. 8, f. 4 doi:10.1080/00222939808678036

  8. Araneus decens

    Simon, 1899a Contribution à la faune de Sumatra: 90

  9. Araneus rumpfi (Original description ♀)

    Pocock, 1900a The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Arachnida: 228 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.48423

  10. Aranea temeraria (Original description ♂)

    Tullgren, 1910 Araneae: 165, pl. 4, f. 115 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.6622

  11. Araneus rumpfi (♀, D♂)

    Sherriffs, 1934 Hong-kong spiders: 88, f. 1, pl. 8, f. 3

  12. Araneus alternidens (Original description ♀)

    Schenkel, 1936b Schwedisch-chinesische wissenschaftliche Expedition nach den nordwestlichen Provinzen Chinas, unter Leitung von Dr: 107, f. 38

  13. Neoscona irritans (Original description ♂)

    Caporiacco, 1947c Arachnida Africae Orientalis, a dominibus Kittenberger, Kovács et Bornemisza lecta, in Museo Nationali Hungarico servata: 170, f. 28

  14. Neoscona rumpfi (♀, Transferred from Araneus)

    Yaginuma, 1955a On the Japanese spiders: genera Mangora, Neoscona, and Zilla: 19, pl. I, f. 7 doi:10.2476/asjaa.14.15

  15. Afraranea rufofemorata (Transferred from Araneus)

    Yaginuma & Archer, 1959 Genera of the araneine Argiopidae found in the Oriental region, and generally placed under the comprehensive genus, Araneus: 37 doi:10.2476/asjaa.16.34

  16. Araneus rufofemoratus (♂♀)

    Chrysanthus, 1960 Spiders from south New Guinea III: 33, f. 35-38, 43, 70

  17. Araneus rufofemoratus (♀)

    Lee, 1966 [Spiders of Formosa (Taiwan)]: 39, f. 10a-d

  18. Araneus alternidens (♀)

    Yin, 1978 [A study on the general orb-weaver spiders and wolf-spiders (Araneae: Araneidae, Lycosidae) from rice fields]: 2, f. 4A-D

  19. Aranea alternidens (♀)

    Song, 1980 [Farm Spiders]: 95, f. 41a-d

  20. Neoscona rumpfi (♂♀)

    Tikader & Bal, 1981 Studies on some orb-weaving spiders of the genera Neoscona Simon and Araneus Clerck of the family Araneidae (=Argiopidae) from India: 18, f. 31-35

  21. Neoscona rumpfi (♀)

    Tikader & Biswas, 1981 Spider fauna of Calcutta and vicinity: Part-I: 25, f. 28-30

  22. Neoscona rumpfi (♂♀)

    Tikader, 1982a Part 1: 253, f. 501-505

  23. Araneus alternidens (♀)

    Hu, 1984 The Chinese spiders collected from the fields and the forests: 88, f. 79

  24. Neoscona vigilans (mf, Transferred from Araneus, Synonym of Afraranea rufofemorata, Araneus alternidens, A. marshalli, A. spenceri, A. temerarius and Neoscona irritans)

    Grasshoff, 1986 Die Radnetzspinnen-Gattung Neoscona in Afrika (Arachnida: Araneae): 95, f. 141-145

  25. Araneus alternidens (♀)

    Chen & Gao, 1990 The Sichuan farmland spiders in China: 43, f. 44a-b

  26. Neoscona polyspinipes (♂; misidentified per Mi, Wang & Li, 2024: 308)

    Yin et al., 1990 New and newly recorded species of the spiders of family Araneidae from China (Arachnida, Araneae): 104, f. 255-257, 261

  27. Araneus alternidens (♀)

    Feng, 1990 Spiders of China in colour: 52, f. 27.1-4

  28. Neoscona rumpfi (♀)

    Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 Riceland spiders of South and Southeast Asia: 630, f. 398a-e, 399a-f

  29. Neoscona polyspinipes (♂; misidentified per Mi, Wang & Li, 2024: 308)

    Song, Chen & Zhu, 1997 Arachnida: Araneae: 1716, f. 18a-b

  30. Neoscona polyspinipes (♂; misidentified per Mi, Wang & Li, 2024: 308)

    Yin et al., 1997d Fauna Sinica: Arachnida: Araneae: Araneidae: 352, f. 248b, e, i-k

  31. Neoscona vigilans (♂♀)

    Tanikawa, 1998b A revision of the Japanese spiders of the genus Neoscona (Araneae: Araneidae): 163, f. 91-92, 100-106 doi:10.2476/asjaa.47.133

  32. Neoscona polyspinipes (♂; misidentified per Mi, Wang & Li, 2024: 308)

    Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 300, f. 179D-E

  33. Neoscona vigilans (♀)

    Hu, 2001 Spiders in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China: 465, f. 305.1-2

  34. Neoscona rumpfi (♂♀)

    Gajbe, 2007 Araneae: Arachnida: 529, f. 317-321

  35. Neoscona vigilans (♂♀)

    Tanikawa, 2007c An identification guide to the Japanese spiders of the families Araneidae, Nephilidae and Tetragnathidae: 72, f. 197-198, 602-605

  36. Neoscona vigilans (♀)

    Barrion-Dupo, 2008 Taxonomy of Philippine derby spider (Araneae: Araneidae): 239, f. 1I, 2E

  37. Neoscona vigilans (♂♀)

    Tanikawa, 2009 Hersiliidae: 445, f. 181-184

  38. Neoscona polyspinipes (♂; misidentified per Mi, Wang & Li, 2024: 308)

    Yin et al., 2012 Fauna Hunan: Araneae in Hunan, China: 735, f. 365b, e, i-k

  39. Neoscona xiquanensis (Original description ♂)

    Barrion, Barrion-Dupo & Heong, in Barrion et al., 2013 New species of spiders (Araneae) from Hainan Island, China: 5, f. 3A-I doi:10.5281/zenodo.269136

  40. Neoscona rumpfi (♀)

    Sen et al., 2015 Spiders (Araneae: Arachnida) of reserve forests of Dooars: Gorumara National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary and Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary: 126, f. 811-816, pl. 24

  41. Neoscona vigilans (♀)

    Basu, Roy & Raychaudhuri, 2017 Neoscona Simon, 1864, the 'true orb weavers' in ricelands of Gangetic Delta, South 24-Parganas, West Bengal, India: 67, f. xxiv-xxix, 24-29

  42. Neoscona vigilans (♀)

    Caleb, 2020b Spider (Arachnida: Araneae) fauna of the scrub jungle in the Madras Christian College campus, Chennai, India: 15718, f. 3G-I, 25C doi:10.11609/jott.5758.12.7.15711-15766

  43. Neoscona vigilans (♀)

    Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2022f The Araneidae of South Africa: 21, 7 f. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6326991

  44. Neoscona vigilans (♂♀)

    Jaffry, Butt & Zahra, 2024 Orb-weavers (Araneae: Araneidae, Nephilidae) from the Margalla Hills National Park, Pakistan with comments on morphological variation in Neoscona mukerjei Tikader, 1980 and emasculation in Nephila pilipes (Fabricius, 1793): 423, f. 8A-H, 9A-D doi:10.54692/lgujls.2023.0704305

  45. Neoscona vigilans (Synonym of Neoscona xiquanensis, removed from Synonym of N. polyspinipes, rejecting Lin et al., 2023a: 503)

    Mi, Wang & Li, 2024 Description of six new genera and twenty species of the orb-weaver spider family Araneidae (Araneae, Araneoidea) from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China: 308 doi:10.24272/j.issn.2097-3772.2024.023

  46. Neoscona vigilans (♂♀)

    Zamani et al., 2025b New data on the spider fauna of Iran (Arachnida: Araneae), part XII: 3, f. 3A-E, 4A-B doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5601.1.1

Distribution of Neoscona vigilans (Blackwall, 1865)

Widespread, including South East Asia, Eastern Africa.

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