''Cambridgea'' (common name New Zealand sheetweb spider, bush spider) is a spider

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 ...

in the family

Desidae Desidae is a family of spiders, some of which are known as intertidal spiders. The family is named for the genus '' Desis'', members of which live in a very unusual location — between the tides. The family has been reevaluated in recent years an ...

and some of the first endemic spiders described from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. They are known for constructing large horizontal sheet webs measuring up to a square metre in larger species. ''Cambridgea'' were originally assigned to the Agelenidae by Dalmas in 1917 but were reassigned to the

Stiphidiidae Stiphidiidae, also called sheetweb spiders, is a family of araneomorph spiders first described in 1917. Most species are medium size ('' Stiphidion facetum'' is about long) and speckled brown with long legs. All members of this family occur in ...

in 1973. Most recently, both ''Cambridgea'' and sister genus ''Nanocambridgea'' were reassigned to the

, subfamily Porteriinae on the basis of molecular evidence.

Description

''Cambridgea'' are medium to large arboreal spiders, with body lengths ranging from approximately 6-10mm in the case of '' Cambridgea reinga'' to about 20mm in the case of '' Cambridgea foliata''. They have long legs and porrect chelicerae which are significantly longer in adult males compared to adult females. Male

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") an ...

s are characterised by a cymbium that extends well beyond the bulb and species can be differentiated by the morphology of the male tibial apophyses and female epigyne.Blest, A.D.; Vink, C.J. 2000: New Zealand spiders: Stiphidiidae. ''Records of the Canterbury Museum'', 13(supplement)

Behaviour

Male-male competition

In the summer, following maturation, adult males depart their natal webs at night and wander in search of receptive females. During this time males will frequently wander into homes, sometimes getting stuck in bathtubs. Having found a female's web, males will defend the web and fight any rival males that subsequently arrive in her web. Fights proceed through clear stages of escalation. In some species males will first signal to each other by creating distortions in the mainsheet by shaking their bodies or by drumming their first pairs of legs and pedipalps on the web. Unless one male withdraws from the web, these contests will escalate to sparring, in which males push at each other with their first two pairs of legs. Some fights will escalate further into grappling in which males lock their chelicerae together and push against one another. Fights rarely result in injury.

Web building

''Cambridgea'' are known for building characteristic, three-dimensional sheet webs consisting of a thick, horizontal mainsheet guyed from below with anchoring threads and with a large number of knock-down threads above the mainsheet to intercept flying insects. The "rear" of the web attaches to a silken retreat which extends a short distance into crevices. The size of webs can vary significantly. Some species build sheet webs with mainsheets of up to one square metre, while some species (e.g. ''Cambridgea quadromaculata'') do not build webs at all. Those ''Cambridgea'' that do build webs run along the underside of the mainsheet rather than along the top as some sheet-web spiders do (e.g. ''

Corasoides ''Corasoides'' is a genus of South Pacific intertidal spiders that was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1929. Originally placed with the Agelenidae, it was moved to the Stiphidiidae in 1973, and to the Desidae after a 2017 genetic st ...

'').

Species

, the

World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ...

accepted the following species. * '' Cambridgea agrestis'' Forster & Wilton, 1973 — New Zealand * '' Cambridgea ambigua'' Blest & Vink, 2000 — New Zealand * '' Cambridgea annulata'' Dalmas, 1917 — Chatham Islands * ''

Cambridgea antipodiana ''Cambridgea'' (common name New Zealand sheetweb spider, bush spider) is a spider genus in the family Desidae and some of the first endemic spiders described from New Zealand. They are known for constructing large horizontal sheet webs measuring ...

'' (White, 1849) — New Zealand * '' Cambridgea arboricola'' (Urquhart, 1891) — New Zealand * ''

Cambridgea australis ''Cambridgea'' (common name New Zealand sheetweb spider, bush spider) is a spider genus in the family Desidae and some of the first endemic spiders described from New Zealand. They are known for constructing large horizontal sheet webs measuring ...

'' Blest & Vink, 2000 — New Zealand * '' Cambridgea decorata'' Blest & Vink, 2000 — New Zealand * '' Cambridgea elegans'' Blest & Vink, 2000 — New Zealand * ''

Cambridgea elongata ''Cambridgea'' (common name New Zealand sheetweb spider, bush spider) is a spider genus in the family Desidae and some of the first endemic spiders described from New Zealand. They are known for constructing large horizontal sheet webs measuring ...