Famiglia: THERIDIIDAE

Nome comune: /

Nome scientifico: Parasteatoda lunata (Clerck, 1757)

Global distribution (WSC 2021): Europe, Turkey, Israel, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Iran

GPS (Neapolis):

37.076293, 15.276384

37.074171, 15.279479

37.076910, 15.279277

37.077387, 15.280031

37.077905, 15.280549

Caratteristiche anatomiche: Questa specie vistosamente colorata, ha dimensioni contenute: i maschi raggiungono la lunghezza del corpo di 3 mm e le femmine di 5 mm. I maschi hanno una colorazione aranciata brillante con delle macchie bianche sui lati dell’opistosoma, mentre le femmine hanno un opistosoma con una zona centrale nera e laterale con due macchie marroni chiare cerchiate di bianco.

Comportamento: Le ragnatele a groviglio di questo ragno vengono “sporcate” con foglie e detriti per essere rese meno visibili e vengono costruite spesso sotto i rami degli alberi, o su staccionate, nella zona in cui il tronco e il ramo si intersecano, detta “ascella dell’albero”. È possibile osservare diversi maschi nel periodo riproduttivo (come in foto) sulla ragnatela della femmina in attesa di un momento propizio per accoppiarsi

Anatomical features: This strikingly coloured species is small in size, with males reaching a body length of 3 mm and females 5 mm. Males have a bright orange colouration with white spots on the sides of the opisthosoma, while females have an opisthosoma with a black central and lateral area with two light brown spots circled in white.

Behaviour: The tangled webs of this spider are "dirtied" with leaves and debris to make them less visible and are often built under tree branches, or on fences, or in the area where the trunk and branch intersect, known as the "armpit of the tree". It is possible to observe several males during the breeding season (as in the photo) on the female's web, waiting for a favourable moment to mate.

“The question I wanted to work through was whether or not ecology could be transformed from a colonial tool for enduring dispossession into something that could support Indigenous resurgence and sovereignty. To me this meant engaging the land counter to the ways a restoration ecologist, conservation biologist, or naturalist would. Could we tell stories in ways that could disrupt colonial land management regimes? What if this land is more and other than an aesthetic collection of plants, an ecosystem service, or an extractable commodity? How would we engage it as a being worthy of address? I can’t think of a question more blasphemous to the mechanizing sciences, so ready as they are to chastise any claim that resembles anthropomorphism. This felt like the necessary pivot for refusing ecology’s militarism, colonialism, and its “economization of life” (see Murphy 2017b). If we begin there, then how could we develop a practice that could do justice to the lives of the more-than-human creatures who are rooting and weaving across the land? 

… 

By refusing the disenchantments of a colonial and militarized science that evacuates the sentience of more-than-human beings, we aim to open up space for settlers to hear other stories about these lands. We want them to be able to appreciate the significance of the stories Indigenous peoples tell from a place of respect; this could come from having already had an experience of land otherwise.”

Natasha Myers on her project Becoming Sensor with collaborator Ayelen Liberona. Read more at Cultural Anthropology or watch her lecture, "Becoming Sensor for a Planthroposcene"

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