Figure 12 in Construction of orb webs as nocturnal retreats by jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae: cf. Anarrhotus) in southwestern India

Figure 12. Moulting by orb-weaver spiders (Araneidae). 1, Female Nephila Leach 1815 moulting from dragline. 2, Detail of (1) showing smaller male in mating position. The genus Nephila is sometimes placed in the Nephilidae. 3-4, Neoscona Simon 1864 moulting from dragline. 5-6, Parawixia F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1904 moulting from dragline. 7-8, Male Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli 1772) waiting for a moulting female (7) and then mating with that female (8) as she was hanging beneath her exuvium before her cuticle darkened or hardened. The condition of a newly-moulted female may reduce the vulnerability of the male to her attack (Uhl et al. 2015). Photos 1-2 by Vipin Baliga (Karnataka). Photos 3-6 by Abhijith A. P. C. (Karnataka). Photos 7-8 by Uhl et al. (2015), adapted and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.