Malakula island of Vanuatu, in all areas of Lord Howe Island, and even near the Shihe-Shiguan River in China. They construct medium-sized webs on low, shrubby vegetation. Web Its web possesses meandering, bluish-white ribbons consisting of silk that can form either a full or partial cross through the center of the web. The purpose of the crucifix-like stabilimentum has long perplexed biologists, who first thought that the stabilimentum's purpose is to strengthen the web. Other ideas associate it with capturing prey or evading its predators, though the purpose of its stabilimentum remains a mystery. One feature of the stabilimentum is that it effectively reflects ultraviolet light, making it attractive to flying insects. Biologists think this may be to increase the chance of catching its prey. The design of the stabilimentum makes the web and the spider obvious to diurnal predators, especially birds and wasps. The shape of this decoration can vary from three shapes, a complete cross, a partial cross possessing one to three arms, or occasionally an absence of a decoration. This variability can induce web-recognition problems for predators. Biologists also found a possibility that the stabilimentum may be a warning to predators to stay away. Diet Prey of the St Andrew's cross spider include flies, moths, butterflies, bees, and other insects. The orb-weaver wraps its prey immaculately with silk before digesting, and smaller prey may be prioritized. Threat response When the orb-weaver is threatened, it responds by either ejecting from its web or vibrating the web strenuously so the web becomes a blur, confusing its predator. These two methods may not always succeed, though, as sometimes their corpses can be found in mud cells of wasps and their webs can be left empty and damaged. Breeding Mating takes place from summer to autumn and is a perilous occasion for miniature male St Andrew's cross spiders. Males settles on the upper segment of the web, some of them may even be missing legs, caused by encountering inhospitable females. The male then materializes a mating thread within the web, which it attracts the hospitable female by oscillating the thread. The female then hangs her pear-shaped sac in a mesh of threads, frequently surrounded by leaves to camouflage the sac's greenish silk, because egg sacs are the target of wasps and flies. References Further reading Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History. External