Neoscona alberti

Neoscona alberti is a species of spider in the family Araneidae. It is commonly known as Albert's Neoscona orb-web spider.

Distribution

Neoscona alberti occurs across five African countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. In South Africa, the species has been recorded from two provinces at altitudes ranging from 552 to 2,826 m above sea level.
The South African distribution includes the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Habitat and ecology

Neoscona alberti is an orb-web species that constructs orb-webs in vegetation during the night, removing the webs early in the morning. The species has been recorded from Grassland and Thicket biomes. A specimen from Grahamstown was observed making its web in Spartina grass.

Description

Neoscona alberti is known from both sexes.

Conservation

Neoscona alberti is listed as Least Concern by the South [African National Biodiversity Institute] due to its wide geographical range across multiple African countries. In South Africa, the species is protected within the Addo Elephant National Park and Giant's Castle Nature Reserve. There are no known threats to the species.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described by Embrik Strand in 1913 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Aranea alberti. It was revised by Grasshoff in 1986, who synonymized several related species including Araneus edwardianus and Neoscona tuckeri.