Patu is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s in the family Symphytognathidae

Symphytognathidae

The Symphytognathidae are a spider family with 44 described species in six genera.The minute species Patu digua with its body size of only 0.37mm is considered to be one of the smallest spiders in the world.-Distribution:...

 that occurs in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 and Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

. Patu digua is the smallest species of spider described to date.

Name

The name is possibly derived from some Polynesian

Polynesian languages

The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...

 term like the Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

 patu

Patu

A patu is a generic term for a club or pounder used by the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. The word patu in the Māori language means to strike, hit, beat, or subdue. .- Weapons :...

(a type of short-handed club), Samoan patupatu (with a lumpy shape), fatu (a stone or another hard object) or patutu (to strike or hit something or someone). These terms all imply a rounded shape and hardness (enabling one to strike or hammer something with such an object).

Species

• Patu digua
  Patu digua
  Patu digua is by some accounts considered to be the smallest spider in the world, with males reaching a body size of about 0.37 mm. Small as the head of a pin. However, there are other spider species of similar size where only the female is known. Because male spiders are usually smaller than...
  
  Forster & Platnick, 1977 (Colombia)
• Patu eberhardi Forster & Platnick, 1977 (Colombia)
• Patu marplesi Forster, 1959 (Samoa)
• Patu saladito Forster & Platnick, 1977 (Colombia)
• Patu samoensis Marples, 1951 (Samoa)
• Patu silho Saaristo, 1996 (Seychelles)
• Patu vitiensis Marples, 1951 (Fiji)
• Patu woodwardi Forster, 1959 (New Guinea)