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]

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. http://jstor.org/stable/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: 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: 334–395. doi:10.1636/SH-06-36.1.