About Leucauge decorata (Blackwall, 1864)
Leucauge decorata is a medium-sized spider species. It has an elongate abdomen that extends posteriorly past the spinnerets in a tail-like shape. The abdomen displays green bands set against a white background. Males of the species have a very long palp, while the female epigyne is flat and marked with two half circles.
Leucauge decorata has a wide Paleotropic distribution. It occurs in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Japan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. In Africa, it has been recorded in Botswana, Comoros, Tanzania, and South Africa.
This spider builds large orb-webs, and is sometimes found near water or in shaded, damp areas. It is active during the day, and hangs head-down within its web. It can be found in forests, grasslands, rice fields, and urban areas. In urban regions, streetlights attract insects, which leads to more L. decorata webs being built on trees adjacent to these lights. In South Africa, L. decorata has been sampled from Fynbos, Forest, Indian Ocean Coastal Belt, Grassland, Nama Karoo, and Savanna biomes, at altitudes ranging from 4 to 1,842 m. It has also been found in citrus orchards, maize fields, and commercial pine plantations in this region.
