Theridula
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Diversity | ||||||||||||||
| 19 species | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
See text. |
Theridula is a genus of cobweb spiders, found in many (mostly tropical) parts of the world. Most species are about 2 to 3 mm in length.
T. gonygaster and other species build small webs on the lower surface of leaves and catch adult Bemisia tabaci (sweet potato whitefly). They can be observed very frequently in infested fields in the western and central USA.
[edit] 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)
[edit] References
- Levi, H.W. (1966). American Spider Genera Theridula and Paratheridula (Araneae: Theridiidae). Psyche 73:123-130. PDF (Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license) (with key to American Theridula species)
- Levi, H.W. (1957). The spider genera Enoplognatha, Theridion, and Paidisca in America north of Mexico (Araneae, Theridiidae). Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist. 112:1-124.
