''Meraha'' is a

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 southeast Asian cellar spiders. The genus was erected in 2018 for two species transferred from ''

Pholcus ''Pholcus'' is a genus of spiders in the family Pholcidae, with 361 described species as of October 2021. It includes the cellar spider '' P. phalangioides'', often called the "daddy longlegs". This may cause confusion because the name "daddy l ...

'' after a

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 ...

study of Pholcidae. The name is derived from the

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

"merah", meaning "red", referring to the reddish-orange hue of

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") and ...

s. They are average sized cellar spiders with a cylindrical

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

, and they build domed webs above the ground.

Species

it contains seven species: *'' M. chiangdao'' (Huber, 2011) – Thailand *'' M. khene'' (Huber, 2011) – Laos, Vietnam *'' M. kinabalu'' (Huber, 2011) – Malaysia (Borneo) *'' M. kipungit'' (Huber, 2016) – Malaysia (Borneo) *'' M. krabi'' (Huber, 2016) ( type) – Thailand *'' M. narathiwat'' (Huber, 2016) – Thailand *'' M. shuye'' (Yao & Li, 2017) – Indonesia (Borneo)

Species

See also

References

Further reading