Thelacantha

Thelacantha
female T. brevispina from Taiwan
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Thelacantha
Hasselt, 1907
Species: T. brevispina
Binomial name
Thelacantha brevispina
(Doleschall, 1857)
Diversity
1 species
Synonyms

see text

male T. brevispina from Japan

Thelacantha is a spider genus of the Araneidae family with only one described species, T. brevispina.[1] The species is closely related to Gasteracantha, and was synonymized with it in 1859, but revalidated in 1974.[2]

Distribution

The species is found Madagascar, in southern Asia from India to Philippines, Japan and Australia.[1][2]

Taxonomy

Saito described three other Thelacantha species in 1933, which were later synonymized with T. brevispina.[2] T. brevispina has quite often been misidentified as Gasteracantha mammosa, which is now G. cancriformis.[2]

T. brevispina has gone through a checkered name history:

Description

Females grow to a body size of about 6–10 mm, with males reaching a size of 3-5mm.[1]

Large female T.brevispinna from Hilo, Hawai'i ('Akaka Falls region)



See also

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Murphy & Murphy (2000): 100
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 World Spider Catalog

References

External links

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