COLOR CHANGE AND LIFE HISTORY OBSERVATIONS 
OF THE SPIDER GEA HEPTAGON 
(ARANEAE: ARANEIDAE) 
By Laura Elsa Sabath* 
28i2-24th Street, Lubbock, Texas 794 10 
With the great interest in orb webs and their makers at the present 
time (Witt, et al, 1968; Witt, ed., 1969) any observations on webs 
and habits of orb weavers of genera other than the ones ( Araneus , 
Zygiella , Argiope and Uloborus ) used currently by experimenters 
are of interest. 
Although spiders of the genus Gea are widespread, with species 
in the subtropics and tropics around the world, no studies of life 
history or careful web observations of any species of Gea have been 
made. Since Gea is believed related to the much larger Argiope 
(Levi, 1968), it was of interest to see whether Gea species have 
similar habits, as resting in the center of the web and building a 
stabilimentum (a zigzag swatch of silk above and below the hub), 
and whether they made a similar eggcase. Levi (1968) reviews our 
limited knowledge of Gea as follows : the web is vertical with a dense 
viscid spiral and apparently without a stabilimentum ; it is probably 
made in low vegetation and the spider drops from it when slightly 
disturbed. 
Material and Methods 
An adult female Gea heptagon (Hentz) was found October 19, 
1968, on her web in 10 inch (25 cm) grass of a suburban yard, 
Portsmouth, Virginia. She was placed in an indoor terrarium and 
observed until she died November 7. During this time she spun webs, 
fed, and made two eggsacs, from both of which spiderlings hatched. 
I kept the spider in a 10 gallon (45 1) glass terrarium sealed with 
clear plastic wrapping. An open culture bottle with emerging fruit 
flies ( Drosophila ) supplied abundant food. Damp paper towels 
maintained high humidity. A hoop 20 cm in diameter stood on a 
*The research is a product of Public Health Service Research Grant 
AI-01944 to H. W. Levi, Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard Univ., from the 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 
I thank Dr. Levi for suggesting that I observe this species, for encourage- 
ment, and for help in preparing the manuscript, and Mr. Phil Morrison 
of the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Norfolk, Virginia, for 
photography. 
Manuscript received by the editor July 12, 1969. 
367 
