Micrathena

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Micrathena
Arrow-shaped Micrathena - Micrathena sagittata, Julie Metz Wetlands, Woodbridge, Virginia - 8004905359.jpg
Micrathena sagittata in Virginia, USA
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Micrathena
Sundevall, 1833[1]
Type species

(C. L. Koch, 1836)
Species

119, see text

Synonyms[1]
  • Chaetacis Simon, 1895[2]
  • Ildibaha Keyserling, 1892[3]
  • Thaumastobella Mello-Leitão, 1945[4]

Micrathena, known as spiny orbweavers, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833.[5][6] Micrathena contains more than a hundred species, most of them Neotropical woodland-dwelling species. The name is derived from the Greek "micro", meaning "small", and the goddess Athena.[7]

Species with extremely long spines evolved at least eight times in the genus Micrathena and likely function as anti-predator defenses.[8] Gasteracantha orb-weavers also have hardened abdomens with variously shaped spines, but they are not closely related to Micrathena within the orb-weaver family.[9]

These spiders are active during the daytime and build vertical orb webs. Unlike many other orb-weavers, members of Micrathena bite their prey before wrapping it. When laying eggs, females will place the egg sac on vegetation near the web.[5]

Species[]

As of April 2019 the genus Micrathena contains 119 species:[1]

Micrathena mitrata in Alabama, USA
in Panama
Micrathena sp. in Ecuador
Micrathena gracilis in Virginia, USA
  • (Mello-Leitão, 1948) – Colombia to Brazil
  • (Walckenaer, 1841) – Trinidad to Argentina
  • (Taczanowski, 1879) – Costa Rica to Bolivia
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia, Ecuador
  • Reimoser, 1917 – Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
  • (C. L. Koch, 1837) – Brazil, Peru, Guyana
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Colombia to Suriname, Paraguay
  • Levi, 1985 – Ecuador
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil
  • (Magalhaes & Santos, 2011) – Brazil, Argentina
  • Levi, 1985 – Cuba
  • Caporiacco, 1947 – Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru
  • (Keyserling, 1864) – Colombia, Peru
  • (Taczanowski, 1879) – Peru
  • (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899) – Mexico to Panama
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia
  • (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Mexico to Panama
  • (Keyserling, 1864) – Panama to Argentina
  • (Levi, 1985) – Colombia, Venezuela
  • (Walckenaer, 1805) – Panama to Peru
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia to Brazil
  • (Taczanowski, 1873) – Colombia to Brazil
  • Levi, 1985 – Bolivia
  • (Keyserling, 1864) – Costa Rica to Argentina
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina
  • (Banks, 1909) – Cuba
  • (Levi, 1985) – Peru
  • (Lucas, 1835) – Colombia to Brazil
  • Chickering, 1960 – Colombia
  • (C. L. Koch, 1839) – Brazil
  • Chickering, 1961 – Costa Rica to Colombia
  • (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Guatemala to Colombia
  • (Keyserling, 1864) – Colombia
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia, Brazil
  • Chickering, 1960 – Panama, Trinidad to Brazil
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Panama to Brazil
  • Levi, 1985 – Peru, Brazil
  • (Banks, 1909) – Costa Rica to Argentina
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Brazil, French Guiana
  • (Perty, 1839) – Costa Rica to Argentina
  • (Thorell, 1859) – Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola
    • Franganillo, 1930 – Cuba
  • M. funebris (Marx, 1898) – USA to Costa Rica
  • (Hahn, 1822) – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay
  • (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Guatemala to Brazil
  • (Keyserling, 1892) – Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina
  • Simon, 1897 – Ecuador, Colombia
  • Levi, 1985 – Mexico
  • M. gracilis (Walckenaer, 1805) – North, Central America
  • Levi, 1985 – Ecuador
  • (Keyserling, 1864) – Colombia
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil, Suriname
  • Simon, 1897 – Ecuador to Brazil
  • (Taczanowski, 1873) – Greater Antilles, Mexico to Argentina
    • Franganillo, 1930 – Cuba
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia, Peru
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil
  • (Perty, 1833) – Colombia to Brazil
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia
  • Chickering, 1960 – Brazil, Argentina
  • Levi, 1985 – Mexico
  • Mello-Leitão, 1941 – Costa Rica to Colombia
  • Mello-Leitão, 1940 – Brazil
  • M. lucasi (Keyserling, 1864) – Mexico to Brazil
  • Chickering, 1961 – Panama to Brazil
  • Levi, 1985 – Mexico
  • Levi, 1985 – Colombia
  • Simon, 1895 – Brazil, Guyana, Peru
  • (Fabricius, 1775) – Greater Antilles
  • M. mitrata (Hentz, 1850) – USA to Brazil
  • Chickering, 1961 – Nicaragua to Panama
  • Chickering, 1960 – Colombia, Peru, Brazil
  • Strand, 1908 – Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina
  • (Levi, 1985) – Costa Rica
  • (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Costa Rica, Panama
  • (C. L. Koch, 1839) – Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
  • (Holmberg, 1883) – Brazil, Argentina
  • Magalhaes, Martins, Nogueira & Santos, 2017 – Brazil
  • Levi, 1985 – Mexico
  • Levi, 1985 – Ecuador
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Guyana to Paraguay
  • Levi, 1985 – Ecuador
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Virgin Is. to Argentina
  • (Walckenaer, 1841) – Colombia to Bolivia
  • Simon, 1897 – Colombia, Ecuador
  • F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – Mexico to Venezuela
  • (Taczanowski, 1879) – Peru, Ecuador
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil
  • Mello-Leitão, 1935 – Brazil
  • (Keyserling, 1864) – Colombia, Ecuador
  • (Butler, 1873) – Jamaica
  • (Mello-Leitão, 1945) – Brazil
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Honduras to Brazil
  • M. sagittata (Walckenaer, 1841) – North, Central America
  • Brignoli, 1983 – Brazil, Argentina
  • Mello-Leitão, 1939 – Trinidad to Paraguay
  • (Perty, 1833) – Nicaragua to Brazil
  • (Hahn, 1822) – Mexico to Brazil
  • Chickering, 1960 – Argentina
  • Bryant, 1945 – Hispaniola
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil
  • (Linnaeus, 1758) – Suriname, French Guyana, Brazil
  • F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – Mexico
  • Mello-Leitão, 1932 – Brazil, Argentina
  • F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – Mexico, Guatemala
  • (Karsch, 1887) – Colombia, Ecuador
  • (Perty, 1833) – Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
  • Levi, 1985 – Brazil
  • (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Trinidad to Brazil
  • (De Geer, 1778) – Trinidad to Bolivia
  • M. triserrata F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – Mexico to Belize
  • Levi, 1985 – Mexico
  • Levi, 1985 – Peru, Brazil
  • (Perty, 1833) – Colombia to Brazil
  • (Levi, 1985) – Colombia, Peru
  • Magalhaes & Santos, 2011 – French Guiana, Brazil, Peru
  • Kraus, 1955 – Mexico to El Salvador

In North America[]

Although the genus includes over a hundred species, only four are found in the United States and Canada.[10] Among those four species, female spined micrathena (Micrathena gracilis) have five pairs of conical tubercles, female M. mitrata have two short posterior pairs, and female arrow-shaped micrathena (M. sagittata) have three pairs.[5] The only species recorded from Canada is M. sagittata, found in Ontario.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Gen. Micrathena Sundevall, 1833". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  2. ^ Magalhaes, I. L. F.; Santos, A. J. (2012). "Phylogenetic analysis of Micrathena and Chaetacis spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) reveals multiple origins of extreme sexual size dimorphism and long abdominal spines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166: 29.
  3. ^ Levi, H. W. (1985). "The spiny orb-weaver genera Micrathena and Chaetacis (Araneae: Araneidae)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 150: 440.
  4. ^ Scharff, N. (1991). "On the synonymy of Thaumastobella mourei Mello-Leitão and Ildibaha albomaculata Keyserling (Araneae, Araneidae)". Journal of Arachnology. 19: 155.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Genus Micrathena". BugGuide. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  6. ^ Sundevall, C. J. (1833). Conspectus Arachnidum.
  7. ^ Ubick, D.; Paquin, P.; Cushing, P.E.; Roth, V., eds. (2005). Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual. American Arachnological Society.
  8. ^ Magalhaes, Ivan L F; Santos, Adalberto J. (September 2012). "Phylogenetic analysis of Micrathena and Chaetacis spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) reveals multiple origins of extreme sexual size dimorphism and long abdominal spines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (1): no. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00831.x. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  9. ^ Scharff, Nikolaj; Coddington, Jonathan A.; Blackledge, Todd A.; Agnarsson, Ingi; Framenau, Volker W.; Szűts, Tamás; Hayashi, Cheryl Y.; Dimitrov, Dimitar (23 April 2019). "Phylogeny of the orb‐weaving spider family Araneidae (Araneae: Araneoidea)". Cladistics. 36: 1–21. doi:10.1111/cla.12382. hdl:1956/22200.
  10. ^ Hentz, N. M. (1850). "Descriptions and figures of the araneides of the United States". Boston J. Nat. Hist. 6: 18–35, 271–295.
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