Family: Araneidae (Orb-Weaver Spiders)
Species: Argiope mangal (Koh, 1991)

Location: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

This adult female is spewing out multiple strands of white silk from her spinneret to immobilise the prey, then quickly rotates it using her pedipalps to tighten the binding before delivering the fatal bite.

These spiders get their name for the way they hold their eight legs in pairs to form an 'X' shape. The 'X' is called St. Andrew's cross because it is believed that the saint was martyred on a cross of this shape rather than the conventional '+' shape.

Mature females spin an orb web 38-50 cm long which usually only contains two silken zig-zag bands (stabilimentum).