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Neoscona hirta
Species of spider From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Neoscona hirta is a species of spider in the family Araneidae.[2] It is commonly known as the large Neoscona orb-web spider and is an endemic species to Africa.[3]
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Etymology
The species name hirta means "hairy" in Latin.
Distribution
Neoscona hirta is known from seven African countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.[3]
In South Africa, the species is recorded from six provinces at altitudes ranging from 7 to 1,758 m above sea level. These include Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Western Cape.[3]
Habitat and ecology
Females make orb-webs at night in vegetation and remove the web early in the morning. The species has been sampled from the Fynbos, Grassland, Savanna, and Thicket biomes. It has also been found in vineyards and is associated with the bark of Vachellia xanthophloea trees in Ndumo Game Reserve.[3]
Description
adult female
juvenile female
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Neoscona hirta is known from both sexes. Females are large spiders measuring 11-17 mm in body length.[3]
Conservation
Neoscona hirta is listed as Least Concern by the South African National Biodiversity Institute due to its wide geographical range. There are no known threats to the species. It has been sampled from 10 protected areas.[3]
Taxonomy
The species was originally described by C. L. Koch in 1844 as Epeira hirta with the type locality listed only as "Süd Africa". It was revised by Grasshoff in 1986, who synonymized Araneus mensamontis with this species.[4]
References
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