New records of signature spiders (Araneidae: Argiope spp.) from India with the resurrection of A. undulata Thorell, 1887

Abstract

We present new distributional records of Argiope spiders in India, based on more than 10,000 digital images of the genus from the region curated by iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.org). Notable range expansions to India are documented for three species: A. chloreides Chrysanthus, 1961, A. mangal Koh, 1991, and A. sector (Forssk[a]l, 1776). Second, previously unrecorded field characters, updated distributional data, and a re-examination of published descriptions of type material, support the resurrection of A. undulata Thorell, 1887 as a valid species, long treated as a synonym of A. pulchella Thorell, 1881. Finally, we report the first in situ photographic records of live specimens of the rarely documented A. caesarea Thorell, 1897 and A. macrochoera Thorell, 1891. These varied findings for a small and conspicuous taxon highlight the value of online community-science platforms for documenting the arachnofauna of a biodiverse region, as well as illustrate the need for continued taxonomic review, even within well-known genera.