viviparous spiders???

[rafaracno]

Hello, I took several pics of the ventral side of a large orb web spider. The pics show in the epigynum region what appears to be a leg coming out. I understand that all spiders reproduce by eggs outside the body. So, in principle, this is impossible. Nevertheless, I do not have an idea of what else this can be. Help please!

 

[jbooth]

Could be some kind of parasite, looks segmented like a worm. Who's the crazy dude with the long nose in the first shot, smiling like a Jester in the fangs?

 

[aaarg]

that's called the scape

 

[rafaracno]

Yes! Thank you very much! Is this spider an Araneus?

 

[jbooth]

Yeah, it is Araneus. Can't believe I have never seen that, I've held literally hundreds of these in my life.

 

[aaarg]

that one seems quite long, i've usually only looked at scapes under a scope. i don't recall how widespread the structure is, but i know Araneus and Neoscona have em