Genus of spiders
Micrathena spiny orbweavers , is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833.[ 5] [ 6] Micrathena contains more than a hundred species, most of them Neotropical woodland-dwelling species. The name is derived from the Greek "micro", meaning "small", and the goddess Athena .[ 7]
Species with extremely long spines evolved at least eight times in the genus Micrathena and likely function as anti-predator defenses.[ 8] Gasteracantha Micrathena within the orb-weaver family.[ 9]
These spiders are active during the daytime and build vertical orb webs. Unlike many other orb-weavers, members of Micrathena bite their prey before wrapping it. When laying eggs, females will place the egg sac on vegetation near the web.[ 5]
Species
As of April 2019[update] Micrathena contains 119 species:[ 1]
Micrathena mitrata Alabama , USAMicrathena sexpinosa Micrathena vigorsi from Colombia to Brazil Micrathena gracilis Virginia , USA
M. abrahami (Mello-Leitão , 1948) – Colombia to BrazilM. acuta (Walckenaer , 1841) – Trinidad to ArgentinaM. agriliformis (Taczanowski , 1879) – Costa Rica to BoliviaM. alvarengai Levi , 1985M. anchicaya Levi, 1985 – Colombia, EcuadorM. annulata Reimoser, 1917 – Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, ArgentinaM. armigera (C. L. Koch, 1837) – Brazil, Peru, GuyanaM. atuncela Levi, 1985 – ColombiaM. aureola (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Colombia to Suriname, ParaguayM. balzapamba Levi, 1985 – EcuadorM. bananal Levi, 1985 – BrazilM. bandeirante (Magalhaes & Santos, 2011) – Brazil, ArgentinaM. banksi Levi, 1985 – CubaM. beta Caporiacco , 1947M. bicolor (Keyserling , 1864) – Colombia, PeruM. bifida (Taczanowski, 1879) – PeruM. bimucronata (O. Pickard-Cambridge , 1899) – Mexico to PanamaM. bogota Levi, 1985 – ColombiaM. brevipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Mexico to PanamaM. brevispina (Keyserling, 1864) – Panama to ArgentinaM. carimagua (Levi, 1985) – Colombia, VenezuelaM. clypeata (Walckenaer, 1805) – Panama to PeruM. coca Levi, 1985 – Colombia to BrazilM. cornuta (Taczanowski, 1873) – Colombia to BrazilM. coroico Levi, 1985 – BoliviaM. crassa (Keyserling, 1864) – Costa Rica to ArgentinaM. crassispina (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, ArgentinaM. cubana (Banks , 1909) – CubaM. cucharas (Levi, 1985) – PeruM. cyanospina (Lucas, 1835) – Colombia to BrazilM. decorata Chickering , 1960M. digitata (C. L. Koch, 1839) – BrazilM. donaldi Chickering, 1961 – Costa Rica to ColombiaM. duodecimspinosa (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Guatemala to ColombiaM. elongata (Keyserling, 1864) – ColombiaM. embira Levi, 1985 – Colombia, BrazilM. evansi Chickering, 1960 – Panama, Trinidad to BrazilM. excavata (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Panama to BrazilM. exlinae Levi, 1985 – Peru, BrazilM. fidelis (Banks, 1909) – Costa Rica to ArgentinaM. fissispina (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Brazil, French GuianaM. flaveola (Perty , 1839) – Costa Rica to ArgentinaM. forcipata (Thorell , 1859) – Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola
M. funebris (Marx , 1898) – USA to Costa RicaM. furcata (Hahn , 1822) – Brazil, Argentina, UruguayM. furcula (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Guatemala to BrazilM. furva (Keyserling, 1892) – Brazil, Uruguay, ArgentinaM. gaujoni Simon , 1897M. glyptogonoides Levi, 1985 – MexicoM. gracilis (Walckenaer, 1805) – North, Central AmericaM. guayas Levi, 1985 – EcuadorM. guerini (Keyserling, 1864) – ColombiaM. gurupi Levi, 1985 – Brazil, SurinameM. hamifera Simon, 1897 – Ecuador to BrazilM. horrida (Taczanowski, 1873) – Greater Antilles, Mexico to Argentina
M. huanuco Levi, 1985 – Colombia, PeruM. jundiai Levi, 1985 – BrazilM. kirbyi (Perty, 1833) – Colombia to BrazilM. kochalkai Levi, 1985 – ColombiaM. lata Chickering, 1960 – Brazil, ArgentinaM. lenca Levi, 1985 – MexicoM. lepidoptera Mello-Leitão, 1941 – Costa Rica to ColombiaM. lindenbergi Mello-Leitão, 1940 – BrazilM. lucasi (Keyserling, 1864) – Mexico to BrazilM. macfarlanei Chickering, 1961 – Panama to BrazilM. margerita Levi, 1985 – MexicoM. marta Levi, 1985 – ColombiaM. miles Simon, 1895 – Brazil, Guyana, PeruM. militaris (Fabricius , 1775) – Greater AntillesM. mitrata (Hentz , 1850) – USA to BrazilM. molesta Chickering, 1961 – Nicaragua to PanamaM. necopinata Chickering, 1960 – Colombia, Peru, BrazilM. nigrichelis Strand , 1908M. osa (Levi, 1985) – Costa RicaM. parallela (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890) – Costa Rica, PanamaM. patruelis (C. L. Koch, 1839) – Brazil, Paraguay, ArgentinaM. peregrinatorum (Holmberg, 1883) – Brazil, ArgentinaM. perfida Magalhaes, Martins, Nogueira & Santos, 2017 – BrazilM. petrunkevitchi Levi, 1985 – MexicoM. pichincha Levi, 1985 – EcuadorM. picta (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Guyana to ParaguayM. pilaton Levi, 1985 – EcuadorM. plana (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Virgin Is. to ArgentinaM. pungens (Walckenaer, 1841) – Colombia to BoliviaM. pupa Simon, 1897 – Colombia, EcuadorM. quadriserrata F. O. Pickard-Cambridge , 1904M. raimondi (Taczanowski, 1879) – Peru, EcuadorM. reali Levi, 1985 – BrazilM. reimoseri Mello-Leitão, 1935 – BrazilM. rubicundula (Keyserling, 1864) – Colombia, EcuadorM. rufopunctata (Butler , 1873) – JamaicaM. ruschii (Mello-Leitão, 1945) – BrazilM. saccata (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Honduras to BrazilM. sagittata (Walckenaer, 1841) – North, Central AmericaM. sanctispiritus Brignoli , 1983M. schenkeli Mello-Leitão, 1939 – Trinidad to ParaguayM. schreibersi (Perty, 1833) – Nicaragua to BrazilM. sexspinosa (Hahn, 1822) – Mexico to BrazilM. shealsi Chickering, 1960 – ArgentinaM. similis Bryant, 1945 – HispaniolaM. soaresi Levi, 1985 – BrazilM. spinosa (Linnaeus , 1758) – Suriname, French Guiana, BrazilM. spinulata F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – MexicoM. spitzi Mello-Leitão, 1932 – Brazil, ArgentinaM. striata F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – Mexico, GuatemalaM. stuebeli (Karsch , 1887) – Colombia, EcuadorM. swainsoni (Perty, 1833) – Brazil, Paraguay, ArgentinaM. teresopolis Levi, 1985 – BrazilM. triangularis (C. L. Koch, 1836) – Trinidad to BrazilM. triangularispinosa (De Geer , 1778) – Trinidad to BoliviaM. triserrata F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904 – Mexico to BelizeM. tziscao Levi, 1985 – MexicoM. ucayali Levi, 1985 – Peru, BrazilM. vigorsi (Perty, 1833) – Colombia to BrazilM. woytkowskii (Levi, 1985) – Colombia, PeruM. yanomami Magalhaes & Santos, 2011 – French Guiana, Brazil, PeruM. zilchi Kraus, 1955 – Mexico to El Salvador
In North America
Although the genus includes over a hundred species, only four are found in the United States and Canada.[ 10] Micrathena gracilis tubercles , female M. mitrata M. sagittata [ 5] M. sagittata , found primarily in the Pinery Provincial Park , and M. gracilis , which is more widespread.[ 5] [ 11]
References
^ a b c "Gen. Micrathena Sundevall, 1833" . World Spider Catalog . Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2019-05-14 .^ Magalhaes, I. L. F.; Santos, A. J. (2012). "Phylogenetic analysis of Micrathena and Chaetacis spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) reveals multiple origins of extreme sexual size dimorphism and long abdominal spines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 166 : 29. ^ Levi, H. W. (1985). "The spiny orb-weaver genera Micrathena and Chaetacis (Araneae: Araneidae)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology . 150 : 440. ^ Scharff, N. (1991). "On the synonymy of Thaumastobella mourei Mello-Leitão and Ildibaha albomaculata Keyserling (Araneae, Araneidae)". Journal of Arachnology . 19 : 155. ^ a b c d "Genus Micrathena " . BugGuide. Retrieved 2019-05-14 .^ Sundevall, C. J. (1833). Conspectus Arachnidum . ^ Ubick, D.; Paquin, P.; Cushing, P.E.; Roth, V., eds. (2005). Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual . American Arachnological Society. ^ Magalhaes, Ivan L F; Santos, Adalberto J. (September 2012). "Phylogenetic analysis of Micrathena and Chaetacis spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) reveals multiple origins of extreme sexual size dimorphism and long abdominal spines" . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 166 (1): no. doi :10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00831.x . Retrieved 2016-09-07 . ^ ^ Hentz, N. M. (1850). "Descriptions and figures of the araneides of the United States". Boston J. Nat. Hist . 6 : 18– 35, 271– 295.^ "Genus Micrathena " . iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-03-26 .
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