Theridula

Theridula
Female Theridula gonygaster from Okinawa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Superfamily: Araneoidea
Family: Theridiidae
Subfamily: Theridiinae
Genus: Theridula
Emerton, 1882
Species

See text.

Diversity
19 species

Theridula is a genus of cobweb spiders, found in many (mostly tropical) parts of the world. Species vary in size from 1 to 3.5 mm in length.[1]

Theridula angula moving from one tree to another carrying the egg sac

In females, the abdomen is wider than long, with a hump or horn on each side, and sometimes a posterior median horn.[2][3] The pedipalp in males is simple, lacking a conductor or theridioid tegular apophysis.[4][5]

Theridula spiders are frequently found on bushes or tall grass where they rest on the undersides of leaves near their webs.

Species

References

  1. Levi, Herbert W. (October 1954). "The Spider Genus Theridula in North and Central America and the West Indies (Araneae: Theridiidae)". Transcriptions of American Microscopical Society (American Microscopical Society) 73 (4): 331–343. doi:10.2307/3223578. JSTOR 3223578.
  2. Comstock, John Henry (1975) [First published 1912]. The Spider Book. Cornell University Press. pp. 354–355.
  3. Archer, Allan F. (1946). "The Theridiidae or Comb-footed Spiders of Alabama". Museum Papers of the Alabama Museum of Natural History (22): 31.
  4. Levi, Herbert W. (1966). "American Spider Genera Theridula and Paratheridula (Araneae: Theridiidae)". Psyche 73 (2): 123–130. doi:10.1155/1966/12793.
  5. Agnarsson, Ingi; Jonathan A. Coddington; Barbara Knoflach (2007). "Morphology and Evolution of Cobweb Spider Male Genitalia (Araneae, Theridiidae)". The Journal of Arachnology 35 (2): 334–395. doi:10.1636/SH-06-36.1.
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