Banded argiope spider Argiope trifasciata on Crete

A spider found by Honeyguide’s group in April 2026 turns out to be an unusual record, namely a species only recently recorded on Crete.

The group, when at Phaestos (or Festos or Phaistos – it depends how you transliterate the Greek) on 10 April, found a female wasp spider that had caught a swallowtail butterfly.

Banded argiope (or banded garden spider) Argiope trifasciata, with swallowtail butterfly.

I managed to drop down the bank behind the spider and swallowtail to get a photo of the upper (dorsal) side. The photo collage shows this, with group members looking on.

It didn’t look quite right to be the same wasp spider species that I know in the UK. Google Images and the Seek app (iNaturalist) both suggested Argiope trifasciata, with an English name of banded garden spider. I later found the alternative name of banded argiope. As the Argiope genus includes other wasp spiders, this seems a better English name.

The difference in appearance is that wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi has wiggly bits among the edges of the black lines between the yellow and the white lines. On banded argiope, Argiope trifasciata, and my photo, the lines are roughly parallel, or curved towards the rear end; bands, you could say.

The intriguing questions come from the range of Argiope trifasciata, originally an American species. Wikipedia notes that it is native to North and South America, but now found around the world, and in Europe it can be found on the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, and Madeira. This chimes with where I’ve seen it before on Honeyguide holidays, namely Tarifa (8 March 2024), Morocco (19 March 2026), Madeira (10 & 14 October 2018) and Menorca (11 October 2022).

But what about Crete / Greece? An internet search found a paper entitled Spiders of Crete (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from the Greek island of Crete (2013). Argiope trifasciata is absent from that. I found an email for the author, but he added no light. A distribution map on the Spiders of Europe website – see below – again suggests it is absent from Crete and the Greek mainland.

Distribution map for Argiope trifasciata, according to Spiders of Europe website, evidently slightly out of date.

The outcome is simply that finding Argiope trifasciata on Crete is consistent with its spread across parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. I entered the record onto iNaturalist (the website’s algorithms recognised the species, though humans have to agree the record) and this gave me access to other records for Crete.

The Honeyguide group's banded argiope is the fourth for Crete on iNaturalist, with previous records from May 2024, September 2024 and October 2024. Two of these were from the far west and far east of Crete, the other more central.

Now for photos of other wasp spiders (Argiope genus), for reference.

My first UK wasp spider Argiope bruennichi, West Canvey marsh, Essex 11 Oct ober 2007.

The wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi, is found across much of Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia, and is spreading north rapidly. That spread is very evident in England, with a rapid colonisation of Norfolk in the last decade. Wasp spiders are plentiful in two Norwich parks with areas of long grass, Eaton Park and Catton Park. Honeyguiders on Norfolk days out have found it at Thompson Common, Hickling (both August 2023) and Buxton Heath (July 2025).

Large wasp spider Argiope lobata collage, Extremadura, Spain, October 2026.

Large wasp spider Argiope lobata is in southern Europe and much of Africa and Asia. It’s much less frequently found on Honeyguide holidays. My only photos are from Extremadura, 2 October 2016.

Chris Durdin, May 2026