Argyrodes flavescens, commonly called the red and silver dewdrop spider is a species of spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

 belonging to the family Theridiidae

Theridiidae

Theridiidae is a large family of spiders, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders. The diverse family includes over 2200 species in over 100 genera) of three-dimensional space-web-builders found throughout the world...

. It is widely distributed in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 and is also found in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. Like other members of this genus, this species is a kleptoparasite, living on the web

Spider web

A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....

 of a larger spider and feeding off its prey. A. flavescens most commonly inhabits the webs of araneids and nephilids

Nephilidae

The Nephilidae are a spider family with 75 described species in four genera. They were formerly grouped in the families Araneidae and Tetragnathidae. The genus Singafrotypa was moved to Araneidae in 2002.All nephilid genera partially renew their webs....

.

This is a very small spider with a length (excluding legs) of around 3 mm. The legs are black and the markedly domed and very shiny abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

is red-brown with white spots.