Theridula

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

Theridula
Female Theridula gonygaster from Okinawa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Theridiidae
Genus: Theridula
Emerton, 1882
Species

See text

Diversity
19 species

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
  • Theridula albonigra Caporiacco, 1949 (Kenya)
    • Theridula albonigra vittata Caporiacco, 1949 (Kenya)
  • Theridula angula Tikader, 1970 (India)
  • Theridula casas Levi, 1954 (Mexico)
  • Theridula emertoni Levi, 1954 (USA, Canada)
  • Theridula faceta (O. P.-Cambridge, 1894) (Mexico, Guatemala)
  • Theridula gonygaster (Simon, 1873) (Cosmopolitan)
  • Theridula huberti Benoit, 1977 (St. Helena)
  • Theridula iriomotensis Yoshida, 2001 (Japan)
  • Theridula multiguttata Keyserling, 1896 (Brazil)
  • Theridula nigerrima (Petrunkevitch, 1911) (Ecuador, Peru)
  • Theridula opulenta (Walckenaer, 1842) (Cosmopolitan)
  • Theridula perlata Simon, 1889 (Madagascar)
  • Theridula puebla Levi, 1954 (Mexico, Panama)
  • Theridula pulchra Berland, 1920 (East Africa)
  • Theridula sexpupillata Mello-Leitão, 1941 (Brazil)
  • Theridula swatiae Biswas, Saha & Raychaydhuri, 1997 (India)
  • Theridula theriella Strand, 1907 (Madagascar)
  • Theridula zhangmuensis Hu, 2001 (China)

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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