Gasteracantha fornicata

Taxobox
name = "Gasteracantha fornicata"

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = Northern Queensland, Australia
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
familia = Araneidae
genus = "Gasteracantha"
species = "G. fornicata"
binomial = "Gasteracantha fornicata"
binomial_authority = (Fabricius, 1775)
synonyms ="Aranea fornicata"
"Gasteracantha vittata"
"Gasteracantha bradleyi"

Gasteracantha fornicata is a type of spiny orb-weaver spider found in Queensland Australia. It is similar in shape to the "Austracantha minax" which was originally described as "Gasteracantha minax". [http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/find/spiders/126.htm]

Note on taxonomy

This species is sometimes identified as "Gasteracantha vittata" (L. Koch, 1871). However, it was later discovered that Johan Christian Fabricius had described the species earlier, and according to taxonomic rules, the earlier name has precedence and is the only one that should be used. Also, there are other species that were identified "G. vittata" at times, namely "G. irradiata" (by Thorell, 1859), "G. sanguinolenta" (by Keyserling, 1877) and "G. transversa" (as subspecies "G. v. longicornis" by Strand, 1907), further complicating the issue. Furthermore, there is a taxonomic rule that precedence can be circumvented when the original name has never really been used. So today it is even sometimes called "Astracantha vittata".

References

* [http://eriss.erin.gov.au/cgi-bin/abrs/fauna/details.pl?pstrVol=ARANEOMORPHAE;pstrTaxa=1841;pstrChecklistMode=1 Australian Biological Resources Study]
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/australian/araneidae/araneidae.html Orb and Wheel Weaving Spiders]
* [http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/ARANEIDAE.html World Spider Catalog - Araneidae]
* [http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/02/7.11.02/spider.html Spiders' bright stripes don't alarm, but attract, prey]