Theridion spinitarse O.Pickard-Cambridge 1876
Creators: name: Knoflach, Barbara
name: Rollard, Christine
name: Thaler, Konrad
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Theridiidae
Theridion
Theridion spinitarse

description: <i>Theridion spinitarse</i> O.P.- Cambridge, 1876 Figs 78-79 <i>Theridion spinitarsis</i> O. P.- Cambridge, 1876: 570, female, type locality: Cairo. <i>Theridion bifoveolatum</i> Denis, 1945: 48, fig. 17, female, type locality: Luxor, Egypt, March 1923 (Levy and Amitai 1982: 84). Non: <i>Theridion aelleni</i> Hubert, 1970: 190, figs 1-4, male, female; contra Brignoli (1984: 301), see <i>Theridula aelleni</i> below. <b>Material examined. Egypt: Assuan, 4 &amp;female; (CTh), 22.6.1975, on wall, leg. G. Kübelböck.</b> <b>Saudi Arabia:</b> Wadi Karrar, 3 &amp;female; (NHMB), 10.2.1980, leg. W. Büttiker. <b>Yemen:</b> Wadi Warazan, 1 &amp;female;, 28.10.1999, on guava, leg. M. Mahyoub and A. van Harten [794]. Al Hudaydah - Az Zaydiyah, 2 &amp;female;, 06.12.1998, leg. van Harten [533]. <b>Description, identification.</b> Identification based on the description and figure given by Denis (1945 sub <i>T. bifoveolatum</i>). Male unknown. <b>Measurements.</b> Females (n=5, min-max): Total length 3.4-4.2, carapace length 1.3-1.5, width 1.1-1.3, length femur I 1.7-2.0, tibia I 1.3-1.5 mm. <b>Somatic features, colouration.</b> Carapace light brown, with dark margins and dark band at midline, which does not extend to eye region. Sternum of same light ground colour, sometimes with a few indistinct greyish patches or margins. Legs light brown, with dark annulations. Abdomen on dorsum with white, evenly undulated folium outlined by dark pigmentation. Epigaster light brown, venter whitish. <b>Epigynum /vulva</b> (Figs 78-79). Copulatory orifices laterally oval, ca. 0.07 mm wide, 0.05 long. Orifices widely separate, about 0.2 mm apart and thus about twice their width. Their distance to epigastric furrow equals about their overall width. In mated females the orifices are filled with plug secretions. Copulatory ducts ca. 0.45 mm long, coiled dorsally and anteriorly, and form a long transverse turn laterally before bending to receptacula. Receptacula seminis large as compared with copulatory orifices, ca. 0.15 mm long, clearly visible through integument. <b>Affinities.</b> The species appears to be rather close to the North American <i>Theridion murarium</i> Emerton, 1882. <b>Distribution.</b> North Africa and Arabian Peninsula. <i>Theridion spinitarse</i> is so far known from several localities in Egypt (O.P.- Cambridge 1876, Denis 1945) and from Ethiopia (Pavesi 1883; Shewa, mountains around Let Marefia). It also occurs in Saudi Arabia and Yemen (present paper). It has been collected at least partially from vegetation “A single example was found on a low plant near Cairo” (O.P.- Cambridge 1876).
description: Published as part of <i>Knoflach, Barbara, Rollard, Christine &amp; Thaler, Konrad, 2009, Notes on Mediterranean Theridiidae (Araneae) – II, pp. 227-264 in ZooKeys 16 (16)</i> on pages 256-257, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.16.237, http://zenodo.org/record/576484
description: {"references": ["Cambridge OP (1876) Catalogue of a collection of spiders made in Egypt, with descriptions of new species and characters of a new genus. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1876: 541 - 630.", "Denis J (1945) Descriptions d'araignees nord-africaines. Bulletin de la Societe d'Histoire naturelle de Toulouse 79: 41 - 57.", "Levy G, Amitai P (1982) The comb-footed spider genera Theridion, Achaearanea and Anelosimus of Israel (Araneae: Theridiidae). Journal of Zoology, London 196: 81 - 131.", "Hubert M (1970) Araignees capturees dans des grottes de Tunisie et description de deux especes nouvelles. Revue suisse de Zoologie 77 (1): 189 - 195.", "Brignoli PM (1984) Ragni di Grecia XII. Nuovi dati su varie famiglie (Araneae). Revue suisse de Zoologie 91 (2): 281 - 321.", "Pavesi P (1883) Studi sugli aracnidi africani. III. Aracnidi del regno di Scioa e considerazioni sull'aracnofauna d'Abissinia. Annali dagli Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 20: 1 - 105."]}