Stegodyphus
Encyclopedia
Stegodyphus is a genus of araneomorph
Araneomorphae
The Araneomorphae are a suborder of spiders. They are distinguished by having fangs that oppose each other and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae , which have fangs that are nearly parallel in alignment.- Distinguishing characteristics :Note the difference in the...

 spiders in the family Eresidae. The 21 species are distributed from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, with two species (S. manaus and S. annulipes) found in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

At least three species are social, and several species are known to use ballooning
Ballooning (spider)
Ballooning is a term used for the mechanical kiting that many spiders, especially small species, as well as certain mites and some caterpillars use to disperse through the air. Many small spiders use gossamer or especially fine silk to lift themselves off a surface or use the silk as an anchor in...

 as a method of dispersal.

Species

  • Stegodyphus africanus (Blackwall, 1866) — Africa
  • Stegodyphus annulipes (Lucas, 1856) — Brazil
  • Stegodyphus bicolor (O. P.-Cambridge, 1869) — Southern Africa
  • Stegodyphus dufouri (Audouin, 1826) — North, West Africa
  • Stegodyphus dumicola Pocock, 1898 — Central, South Africa
  • Stegodyphus hildebrandti (Karsch, 1878) — Central, East Africa, Zanzibar
  • Stegodyphus hisarensis Arora & Monga, 1992 — India
  • Stegodyphus lineatus
    Stegodyphus lineatus
    Stegodyphus lineatus is the only European species of the spider genus Stegodyphus.-Description:Males are up to 12 mm long, females up to 15 mm. The colour can range from whitish to almost black. In most individuals the opisthosoma is whitish with two broad black longitudinal stripes...

    (Latreille, 1817) — (Europe to Tajikistan
  • Stegodyphus lineifrons Pocock, 1898 — East Africa
  • Stegodyphus manaus Kraus & Kraus, 1992 — Brazil
  • Stegodyphus manicatus Simon, 1876 — North, West Africa
  • Stegodyphus mimosarum Pavesi, 1883 — Africa, Madagascar
  • Stegodyphus mirandus Pocock, 1899 — India
  • Stegodyphus nathistmus Kraus & Kraus, 1989 — Morocco to Aden
  • Stegodyphus pacificus Pocock, 1900 — Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, India
  • Stegodyphus sabulosus Tullgren, 1910 — East, Southern Africa
  • Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch, 1891 — India, Sri Lanka, Nepal
  • Stegodyphus simplicifrons Simon, 1906 — Madagascar
  • Stegodyphus tentoriicola Purcell, 1904 — South Africa
  • Stegodyphus tibialis (O. P.-Cambridge, 1869) — India, Myanmar, Thailand
  • Stegodyphus tingelin Kraus & Kraus, 1989 — Cameroon

Further reading

(1992): Eresid spiders in the neotropics: Stegodyphus manaus n.sp. (Arachnida, Araneae, Eresidae). Verh. naturwiss. Ver. Hamburg 33: 15-19. (2001): Dispersal of Stegodyphus dumicola (Araneae, Eresidae): They do balloon after all! The Journal of Arachnology 29: 114-116. PDF
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