''Cyrtarachne yunoharuensis'' is a species of spider in the orb-weaver spider family Araneidae, found in China, Korea and Japan. Spiders in the genus ''

Cyrtarachne ''Cyrtarachne'' is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Tamerlan Thorell Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell (3 May 1830 – 22 December 1901) was a Sweden, Swedish arachnologist. Thorell studied spiders with Giacomo Doria at the Museo ...

'' construct "spanning-thread webs" rather than the more typical orb webs of the family Araneidae. These webs have a small number of radii and instead of a tight spiral of sticky threads, the sticky spanning threads are widely spaced and do not form a spiral. When prey is caught on one of the spanning threads, one end comes loose, and the prey, often a moth, dangles from the other end until hauled in by the spider.

Description

The female is 5–7 mm long. The

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

is wider than long and light reddish brown. The sternum is also reddish brown, whereas the legs are yellowish brown. The abdomen is broad, wider than long, and is reddish with six main pairs of white markings. The pair in the middle of the side of the abdomen have a dark central mark and resemble eyeballs. The underside of the abdomen is red. The epigyne has no scape. The male is smaller, 1.5–2 mm long. It is darker than the female and lacks the abdominal pattern. The median apophysis of the palpal bulb is curved and has a pointed tip.

Taxonomy

''Cyrtarachne yunoharuensis'' was first described by Embrik Strand in 1918. Strand included drawings, but said that further details or a description were not available. It was collected in Yunoharu, in Kumamoto Prefecture. The genus ''

'' was included in

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies in 2014 and 2020 which placed it in the "cyrtarachnines" in the subfamily Cyrtarachninae ''

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References

{{taxonbar, from1=Q2325163 Araneidae Spiders of Asia Spiders described in 1918