Argiope chloreis

Argiope chloreis is a species of orb-weaver spider in the family Araneidae. It was first described by Swedish arachnologist Tamerlan Thorell in 1877.^[1]

Green Argiope
female from Borneo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Araneidae
Genus:	Argiope
Species:	A. chloreis
Binomial name
Argiope chloreis Thorell, 1877
Synonyms
Argiope pumila Thorell, 1890

Distribution

A. chloreis is found across Southeast Asia, with confirmed records from China, Malaysia (peninsula and Borneo), and Indonesia (Sumatra and Sulawesi).^[1]

Description

According to the original description by Thorell, A. chloreis is a medium-sized orb-weaver with distinctive coloration. The cephalothorax and legs have a greenish-pale (virescens) appearance with dense whitish pubescence. The eyes are black, and the sternum shows a large whitish patch with greenish margins.^[2]

The legs are pale greenish with silvery-pubescent appearance, equipped with spines and setae. The first and second pairs of legs are approximately equal in length, being about 4.5 times longer than the cephalothorax, while legs are not much longer than the fourth pair.^[2]

The abdomen is described as pale greenish-gray or whitish, with sparse silvery pubescence. It features 6-8 black spots arranged in two regular series, with a thin longitudinal line between them. The abdomen also displays several rounded dark olive-brown spots with whitish borders, creating a distinctive pattern across the dorsal surface.^[2]

Taxonomy

Argiope chloreis was originally described from a single female specimen collected at Kandari by O. Beccari.^[2] The species was later synonymized with Argiope pumila Thorell, 1890 by Levi in 1983, but this synonymy has been subject to revision based on morphological and molecular evidence.^[3]