Occurrence: The Fierce Orb-Weaver lives in spruce forests and on their edges in cold areas, especially in mountains. It is one of the rarest Orb-Weavers in Central Europe. We can see more of these close to each other in some separated areas of its occurrence. The first find of this species in Czech republic is from 1971. RNDr. Antonín Kůrka has found a female in Šumava mountains. On 29.8.2015 Václav Kroc (from our team) has found an adult male in Šumava, too. In 2016 we have found some juveniles and one adult female, so we can tell here something about biology of the Fierce Orb-Weaver. Description: Its abdomen is wider in front and has two humps on top in the front. The abdomen is brown. The humps can be brown or orange, between them there are few white spots. Marking isn’t too significant. The folium is across-striped, the edge is brighter than the folium. Adult females grow to about 16 mm and males to 11 mm. Period of occurrence: Adults are seen from July to September. Web: The Fierce Orb-Weaver weavs big web between spruce branches in various heights, from about 150 cm above the ground. The web is strong and not dense, and the spider attacks to a prey soon. It is the most aggressive Orb-Weaver in the Central Europe. In the day the spider is sitting on central area if its web, or is hide in branches and connected with its web by the signal thread. Food: The Fierce Orb-Weaver hunts flies and other forest flying insects.
Video here
© Araneidae-cz