''Gasteracantha'' is a genus of
orb-weaver spiders first named by
Carl Jakob Sundevall
Carl Jakob Sundevall (22 October 1801, Högestad – 2 February 1875) was a Swedish zoologist.
Sundevall studied at Lund University, where he became a Ph.D. in 1823. After traveling to East Asia, he studied medicine, graduating as Doctor of Me ...
in 1833.
Species of the genus are known as spiny-backed orb-weavers, spiny orb-weavers, or spiny spiders. The females of most species are brightly colored with six prominent spines on their broad, hardened, shell-like abdomens. The name ''Gasteracantha'' is derived from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(), meaning "belly, abdomen", and (), meaning "thorn, spine".
Spiny-backed orb-weavers are sometimes colloquially called "crab spiders" because of their shape, but they are not closely related to the true
crab spiders.
Other colloquial names for certain species include thorn spider,
star spider,
kite spider, or
jewel spider.
Members of the genus exhibit strong
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
. Females are several times larger than males, which lack prominent spines or bright colors.
''Gasteracantha'' species are distributed worldwide in
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
and
subtropical climates. The genus is most diverse in tropical Asia, from India through Indonesia.
One species, ''
G. cancriformis'', occurs in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
.
Other genera in the same family are also known as spiny orb-weavers.
Orb-weavers' bites are generally harmless to humans.
Taxonomy and systematics
''Gasteracantha'' has a complex taxonomic history, and many questions of species limits and distribution and generic interrelationships remain unanswered. Furthermore, challenges include the variability within individual ''Gasteracantha'' species (e.g., color
polymorphism and variable length and shape of spines), a lack of male specimens and descriptions for many species, missing or damaged type specimens, and ambiguous initial descriptions in 18th- and 19th-century scientific literature.
The 69 species currently recognized by
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 ...
include dozens of
synonyms and
subspecies, many based on literature well over 100 years old.
A 2019 study examining three
mitochondrial and two
nuclear genes found that ''Gasteracantha'' is
paraphyletic with respect to ''Macracantha'', ''Actinacantha'', and ''Thelacantha''. ''
M. arcuata'' is allied with ''
G. hasselti'' and ''
A. globulata'', while ''
T. brevispina'' is closer to ''
G. kuhli'' and ''
G. diardi''. The authors, however, did not propose generic reassignments based on their findings.
''
Micrathena
''Micrathena'', known as spiny orbweavers, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. ''Micrathena'' contains more than a hundred species, most of them Neotropical woodland-dwelling species. The name is der ...
'' orb-weavers in North and South America also have hardened abdomens with variously shaped spines, but they are not closely related to ''Gasteracantha'' within the orb-weaver family.
Species
, the genus ''Gasteracantha'' contains 69 species and 18 subspecies:
*''
G. aciculata''
( Pocock, 1899) – Papua New Guinea (New Britain)
*''
G. acutispina''
Dahl, 1914 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
*''
G. audouini''
Guérin, 1838 – Indonesia (Sumatra, Timor, Ambon), Philippines
*''
G. aureola''
Mi & Peng, 2013 – China
*''
G. beccarii''
Thorell, 1877 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
*''
G. biloba''
(Thorell, 1878) – Indonesia (Moluccas, Ambon)
*''
G. cancriformis''
(Linnaeus, 1758) – North America, Central America, Caribbean, South America. Introduced to Hawaii
**''
Gasteracantha c. gertschi''
Archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
, 1941 – USA
*''
G. clarki''
Emerit, 1974 – Seychelles
*''
G. clavatrix''
(Walckenaer
Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist.
Biography
Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow. In 1793 he was appointed head of t ...
, 1841) – Indonesia (Lombok, Sulawesi, Mentawai Is.)
*''
G. clavigera''
Giebel, 1863 – Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia (Sulawesi)
*''
G. crucigera''
Bradley
Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English.
Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular.
It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
, 1877 – Malaysia, Indonesia (Java, Borneo), New Guinea
*''
G. curvispina''
(Guérin, 1837) – West, Central Africa
*''
G. curvistyla''
Dahl, 1914 – Indonesia (Togian Is.)
*''
G. cuspidata''
C. L. Koch, 1837 – Malaysia, India (Nicobar Is.), Indonesia (Java)
*''
G. dalyi''
Pocock, 1900 – India, Pakistan
*''
G. diadesmia''
Thorell, 1887 – India to Philippines
*''
G. diardi''
(Lucas, 1835) – China, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia (Sunda Is.)
*''
G. doriae''
Simon
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
, 1877 – Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo)
*''
G. falcicornis''
Butler, 1873 – Africa
*''
G. fasciata''
Guérin, 1838 – New Guinea, Guam
*''
G. flava''
Nicolet, 1849 – Chile
*''
G. fornicata''
( Fabricius, 1775) – Australia (Queensland)
*''
G. frontata''
Blackwall, 1864 – India, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia (Flores, Borneo)
*''
G. gambeyi''
Simon, 1877 – New Caledonia
*''
G. geminata''
(Fabricius, 1798) – India, Sri Lanka
*''
G. hecata''
(Walckenaer, 1841) – Philippines
*''
G. interrupta''
Dahl, 1914 – Indonesia (Lombok, Sulawesi)
*''
G. irradiata''
(Walckenaer, 1841) – Thailand to Philippines, Indonesia (Sulawesi)
*''
G. janopol''
Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
*''
G. kuhli''
C. L. Koch, 1837 – India to Japan, Philippines, Indonesia
*''
G. lepelletieri''
(Guérin, 1825) – Indonesia (Sumatra) to Philippines, New Guinea
*''
G. lunata''
Guérin, 1838 – Timor, Indonesia (Moluccas), New Caledonia
*''
G. martensi''
Dahl, 1914 – Indonesia (Sumatra)
*''
G. mediofusca''
( Doleschall, 1859) – Indonesia (Java), New Guinea
*''
G. mengei''
Keyserling, 1864 – Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo)
*''
G. metallica''
(Pocock, 1898) – Solomon Is.
*''
G. milvoides''
Butler, 1873 – Central, East, Southern Africa
*''
G. notata''
Kulczyński, 1910 – Papua New Guinea (New Britain)
*''
G. panisicca''
Butler, 1873 – Myanmar to Philippines, Indonesia (Java)
*''
G. parangdiadesmia''
Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
*''
G. pentagona''
(Walckenaer, 1841) – Papua New Guinea (New Ireland, New Britain, Bismarck Arch.)
*''
G. picta''
(Thorell, 1892) – Singapore
*''
G. quadrispinosa''
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1879 – New Guinea, Australia (Queensland)
*''
G. recurva''
Simon, 1877 – Philippines
*''
G. regalis''
Butler, 1873 – Vanuatu
*''
G. remifera''
Butler, 1873 – India, Sri Lanka
*''
G. rhomboidea''
Guérin, 1838 – Mauritius
**''
Gasteracantha r. comorensis''
Strand, 1916 – Comoros, Mayotte
**''
Gasteracantha r. madagascariensis''
Vinson, 1863 – Madagascar
*''
G. rubrospinis''
Guérin, 1838 – Indonesia (Lombok, Sulawesi, Moluccas), New Caledonia, Guam
*''
G. rufithorax''
Simon, 1881 – Madagascar
*''
G. sacerdotalis''
L. Koch
Ludwig Carl Christian Koch (8 November 1825 – 1 November 1908) was a German entomologist and arachnologist.
He was born in Regensburg, Germany, and died in Nuremberg, Germany. He studied in Nuremberg, initially law, but then turned to medicin ...
, 1872 – New Guinea, Australia (Queensland), New Caledonia
*''
G. sanguinea''
Dahl, 1914 – Philippines
*''
G. sanguinolenta''
C. L. Koch, 1844 – Africa, Yemen (mainland, Socotra), Seychelles
**''
Gasteracantha s. andrefanae''
Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
**''
Gasteracantha s. bigoti''
Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
**''
Gasteracantha s. emeriti''
Roberts, 1983 – Seychelles (Aldabra)
**''
Gasteracantha s. insulicola''
Emerit, 1974 – Seychelles
**''
Gasteracantha s. legendrei''
Emerit, 1974 – Europa Is.
**''
Gasteracantha s. mangrovae''
Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
*''
G. sapperi''
Dahl, 1914 – New Guinea
*''
G. sauteri''
Dahl, 1914 – China, Taiwan, Vietnam
*''
G. scintillans''
Butler, 1873 – Solomon Is.
*''
G. signifera''
Pocock, 1898 – Solomon Is.
**''
Gasteracantha s. bistrigella''
Strand, 1911 – Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.)
**''
Gasteracantha s. heterospina''
Strand, 1915 – Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.)
**''
Gasteracantha s. pustulinota''
Strand, 1911 – Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.)
*''
G. simoni''
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1879 – Central Africa
*''
G. sororna''
Butler, 1873 – India
*''
G. sturi''
(Doleschall, 1857) – Laos, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Moluccas
*''
G. subaequispina''
Dahl, 1914 – Borneo, New Guinea
*''
G. taeniata''
(Walckenaer, 1841) – India to Polynesia
**''
Gasteracantha t. analispina''
Strand, 1911 – New Guinea
**''
Gasteracantha t. anirensis''
Strand, 1911 – Papua New Guinea (New Ireland)
**''
Gasteracantha t. lugubris''
Simon, 1898 – Solomon Is.
**''
Gasteracantha t. novahannoveriana''
Dahl, 1914 – Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.)
*''
G. theisi''
Guérin, 1838 – Indonesia, New Guinea
*''
G. thomasinsulae''
Archer, 1951 – São Tomé and Príncipe
*''
G. thorelli''
Keyserling, 1864 – Madagascar
*''
G. tondanae''
Pocock, 1897 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
*''
G. transversa''
C. L. Koch, 1837 – Indonesia (Sumatra, Java)
*''
G. unguifera''
Simon, 1889 – China, India
*''
G. versicolor''
(Walckenaer, 1841) – Central, East, Southern Africa
**''
Gasteracantha v. avaratrae''
Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
**''
Gasteracantha v. formosa''
Vinson, 1863 – Madagascar
*''
G. westringi''
Keyserling, 1864 – Australia, Admiralty Is., New Caledonia
Gallery
Spiny_backed_orbweaver_spider.jpg, '' G. cancriformis''
Hasselt's spiny spider, gasteracantha hasselti - Kaeng Krachan National Park.jpg, '' G. hasselti''
Krachan National Park, Thailand
Gasteracantha - Spiny orb-weavers.jpg , '' G. geminata''
Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore, India
20111029 DSC 0030 (10191378843).jpg , '' G. dalyi''
Karnataka, India
Gasteracantha quadrispinosa by Danny S.-1.JPG , '' G. quadrispinosa''
Queensland, Australia
Spider with fangs - Mecufi district of Mozambique, close to the sea coast.jpg , '' G. falcicornis''
Mecúfi District, Mozambique
References
External links
Video of a spiny orbweaver's heart beating
{{Authority control
Araneidae
Araneomorphae genera
Cosmopolitan spiders
Taxa named by Carl Jakob Sundevall