''Acantharachne'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n orb-weaver spiders first described by

Albert Tullgren Hugo Albert Tullgren (7 September 1874, in Stockholm – 1 July 1958) was a Swedish entomologist and arachnologist. In 1899 he received his bachelor's degree from Uppsala University, then from 1902 worked as an assistant at the National Entomo ...

in 1910.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Acantharachne'' was erected by

in 1910 for the species '' Acantharachne cornuta''. There was already a genus of

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the s ...

s with a name differing only in the last letter, ''Acantharachna'', so in 1929,

Embrik Strand Embrik Strand (2 June 1876 – 3 November 1947) was an entomologist and arachnologist who classified many insect and spider species including the greenbottle blue tarantula. Life and career Strand was born in Ål, Norway. He studied at t ...

put forward a

replacement name In biological nomenclature, a ''nomen novum'' (Latin for "new name"), new replacement name (or replacement name, new substitute name, substitute name) is a scientific name that is created specifically to replace another scientific name, but only w ...

, ''Acantharanea''. However, as the spelling was different, even if only by one letter, replacement was unnecessary.

Species

it contains eight species: *'' Acantharachne cornuta'' Tullgren, 1910 – East Africa *'' Acantharachne giltayi'' Lessert, 1938 – Congo, Madagascar *'' Acantharachne lesserti'' Giltay, 1930 – Congo *'' Acantharachne madecassa'' Emerit, 2000 – Madagascar *'' Acantharachne milloti'' Emerit, 2000 – Madagascar *'' Acantharachne psyche'' Strand, 1913 – Central Africa *'' Acantharachne regalis'' Hirst, 1925 – Cameroon, Congo *'' Acantharachne seydeli'' Giltay, 1935 – Congo

References

Araneidae Araneomorphae genera Spiders of Africa {{Araneidae-stub