Wasp spider
Argiope bruennichi
The wasp spider is a striking orb-weaver spider, where females exhibit a characteristic yellow, black, and white striped pattern on their abdomen. It prefers to build its webs low to the ground between sturdy stalks in sunny, open grasslands. A unique feature of its web is the vertical zigzag silk ribbon known as the stabilimentum. Originally native to the Mediterranean region, it has expanded its range significantly northward as far as Scandinavia due to global climate warming.
Details
Identification
Females with yellow-black-white striped pattern; silvery cephalothorax; orb web featuring a zigzag-shaped stabilimentum.
Social behavior
Solitary; pronounced sexual cannibalism, where the female often consumes the male immediately after or during mating.
Diet
Insectivorous; feeds primarily on grasshoppers, bees, wasps, and flies that get caught in its orb web.
Hunting strategy
Ambush predator in an orb web; prey is located by vibrations, paralyzed with venom, and wrapped extremely quickly in spider silk.
Spawning substrate
The brownish, urn-shaped egg cocoon is usually attached to grasses or low shrubs within the herb layer.
Overwintering
Adult spiders die in autumn; the species overwinters as eggs or newly hatched spiderlings inside a well-insulated cocoon.
Ecology
Ecological role
Important predator for regulating insect populations, particularly orthopterans in meadow ecosystems.
Natural predators
Birds, lizards, spider wasps, and specialized ichneumon wasps that parasitize the egg cocoons.
Competitor species
Other large orb-weaver spiders like the European garden spider (Araneus diadematus) in overlapping habitats.
Ecosystem service
Natural pest control in agricultural meadows and fallow lands.
Threats
Intensive agriculture, frequent mowing of grasslands, loss of structurally rich fallow land, and pesticide use.
Scientific profile
Profile
Distinguishing features
Characteristic vertical zigzag band (stabilimentum) in the center of the orb web. Females are unmistakable due to their size and pattern. Males are significantly smaller and brownish in color.
Habitat
Open, sunny locations with high herbaceous layers, especially extensively managed grasslands, dry meadows, wet meadows, and fallow land.
Role in food web
Important predator for insect populations; serves as food for birds, lizards, and specialized parasitic wasps.
Protection & threats
Main threats
Intensification of agriculture (frequent mowing), loss of margin structures and fallow land due to construction or scrub encroachment.
Population trend
Strongly increasing; the species has been expanding massively northwards and eastwards in Europe since the 1970s due to global warming.