''Kaira'', sometimes called frilled orbweavers, is a mostly

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of orb-weaver spiders first described by

O. Pickard-Cambridge Octavius Pickard-Cambridge FRS (3 November 1828 – 9 March 1917) was an English clergyman and zoologist. He was a keen arachnologist who described and named more than 900 species of spider. Life and work Pickard-Cambridge was born in Blox ...

in 1889. It includes sixteen described species that occur from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

up to the southern and eastern

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is presumably related to ''

Aculepeira ''Aculepeira'' is a genus of Araneidae, orb-weaver spiders first described by Ralph Vary Chamberlin, R. V. Chamberlin & Wilton Ivie in 1942. Species it contains twenty-seven species: *''Aculepeira aculifera'' (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1889) – U ...

'', '' Amazonepeira'' and ''

Metepeira ''Metepeira'' is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by F. O. Pickard-Cambridge in 1903. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek μετά and the obsolete genus name '' Epeira'', denoting a genus similar to ''Epeira''. Species i ...

''. They spin small webs from which they hang upside down and attract male

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s that fly into a basket formed by their legs. They use a moth

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

for this, which resembles the one used by the

bolas spider A bolas spider is a member of the orb-weaver spider (family Araneidae) that, instead of spinning a typical orb web, hunts by using one or more sticky "capture blobs" on the end of a silk line, known as a "bolas". By swinging the bolas at flying ...

s of the genus '' Mastophora''. Though they belong to the same family, the two genera are not closely related, so this is likely an example of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

. All species are pale yellow-white with scattered, small, white, brown and black random spots, or in some species transverse bands. Females have a body length of about . Males are less than half the size of females and less pigmented. ''Kaira'' specimens are uncommon in arachnologist collections, and the females of different species are difficult to separate. Females and immatures can be confused with species of the not closely related genus ''

Pozonia ''Pozonia'' is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by E. Schenkel in 1953. Species it contains five species: *''Pozonia andujari'' Alayón, 2007 – Hispaniola *''Pozonia bacillifera'' (Simon, 1897) – Trinidad to Paraguay *''Pozoni ...

''.

Behavior

When a fly was put into a jar containing a ''K. alba'', the female dropped from the underside of the lid on what seemed a single thread about long and hung there until the fly blundered into her. Then she clamped her legs around it and killed it. Instead of constructing orb webs, they construct a small trapezoidal web, containing two triangular zigzags of threads, which is remade every twenty minutes. The spider then hangs upside-down by the fourth leg on the lower and shorter parallel edge of the trapezoid, which is spread by the other legs. When a moth flies into the basket formed by the spider's legs, it is clasped and bitten, and later wrapped in araneid-like fashion. The moth is then hung from a trapeze line between the last legs of the spider, which resumes the hunting posture. As many as eight moths can be caught in this way before the spider starts feeding.

Species

it contains sixteen species: *''

Kaira alba ''Kaira alba'', the pale frilled orbweaver, is a species of orb weaver in the family Araneidae. It is found in the US and Mexico. References Further reading

* * * Araneidae Spiders described in 1850 {{araneidae-stub ...

'' ( Hentz, 1850) – USA, Mexico *''

Kaira altiventer ''Kaira altiventer'' is a species of orb weaver in the family 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. ...

'' O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1889 – USA to Brazil *'' Kaira candidissima'' ( Mello-Leitão, 1941) – Argentina *'' Kaira cobimcha''

Levi Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and M ...

, 1993 – Brazil *'' Kaira conica'' Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1948 – Brazil, Argentina *'' Kaira dianae'' Levi, 1993 – Peru *'' Kaira echinus'' (

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 ...

, 1897) – Brazil, Argentina *'' Kaira electa'' ( Keyserling, 1883) – Brazil *'' Kaira erwini'' Levi, 1993 – Peru *'' Kaira gibberosa'' O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890 – Mexico to Brazil *'' Kaira hiteae'' Levi, 1977 – USA *'' Kaira levii'' Alayón, 1993 – Cuba *'' Kaira sabino'' Levi, 1977 – USA *'' Kaira sexta'' (

Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are severa ...

, 1916) – Guatemala to Brazil *'' Kaira shinguito'' Levi, 1993 – Peru *'' Kaira tulua'' Levi, 1993 – Colombia

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q305071 Araneidae Araneomorphae genera Spiders of North America Spiders of Central America Spiders of South America