''Argyrodes fissifrons'', the split-faced silver spider, is a species of
spider
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
of the genus ''
Argyrodes''. It is found from Sri Lanka to China and Australia.
Description
The female is larger than the male, at about 12mm in length. The abdomen is triangular, with the
spinnerets
A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...
pointing downwards and the hind-end pointing backwards. The body has silvery spots and has long and thin legs. The males have bumps on their head. After mating, male seals the epigyne of the female with a resin plug to inhibit further copulation.
Ecology
A
kleptoparasitic spider, it sometimes preys upon its host spider ''
Agelena limbata'', during or just after
molting
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
of the host. However, this species is much smaller than the host. Recently, scientists found that their association with ''
Cyrtophora
''Cyrtophora'', the tent-web spiders, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1895. Although they are in the "orb weaver" family, they do not build orb webs. Their tent-like, highly complex non-sticky web is sometim ...
'' spider webs, from
Orchid Island, of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. Scientists finally found that ''A. fissifrons'' scavenge on webs of ''Cyrtophora'' hosts by collecting small preys ignored by the hosts.
Subspecies
*''Argyrodes fissifrons fissifrons''
Thorell, 1891 -
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
*''Argyrodes fissifrons terressae''
Thorell, 1891 -
Nicobar Islands
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian s ...
See also
*
List of Theridiidae species
References
Theridiidae
Spiders of Asia
Spiders of Australia
Spiders described in 1869
{{Theridiidae-stub