The giant golden sphere weave spider, Nephila Piripes (Fabricius, 1793), is notable for its polymorphism in colour. Here we report this type of pattern polymorphism. A Nephira species with an abnormal abdominal pattern from the Philippines has been identified as N. pilipes based on this somatic structure and genital organs. The abdominal pattern consists of a row of yellow spots from the dorsal sub-quadrant, which differs from the typical longitudinal yellow stripes of N. pilipes. It provides a distribution of spotted variants based on citizen science data on the Internet, suggesting that this particular variation may be regionally endemic in the Philippines. Keywords: aposematism, arknid, citizen science, intraspecies variation, nephilinae.
Acuña, Darrell & Maglangit, Erl Pfian & Santiago, Myla & Guevarra JR, Leonardo. (2025). Polymorphisms in the abdominal pattern and distribution of giant golden sphere spiders in the Philippines, Nephila pyripes (Fabricius, 1793) (Araneiidae) (Araneiidae). Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology. 18. AZ-BB. 10.26757/PJSB202418006.
