Clitaetra

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Clitaetra
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Nephilidae
Genus: Clitaetra
Simon, 1889 [1]
Species

See text

Diversity
6 species
Distribution.clitaetra.1.png

Clitaetra is a genus of spiders in a family Nephilidae. [1] It occurs in Africa, Madagascar and Sri Lanka, hinting to a Gondwanan origin. a split between Clitaetra and related genera may be as old as 160 million years. [2]

Contents

Description

Females have a total length of 5.7–9.9 mm, while males are smaller at 2.8–3.6 mm. The female carapace and chelicerae are yellow-grey, with the sternum yellow and bearing irregular white patches along the middle and four pairs of sternal slit sensilla. [3]

The abdomen is pentagonal and dorsoventrally flattened, with five pairs of dorsomedian apodemes. The dorsum has a grey, brown and white pattern, while the venter has a broad white median stripe extending from the epigastric furrow to the spinnerets, with a broken white pattern around the spinnerets. The legs are whitish-yellow with dark brown spine-sockets and spines, and brown tarsi.

Males have a light brown sternum and both eye rows are recurved. The abdomen is oval with three pairs of dorsal apodemes and a dark brown scutum with a white frontal band. The venter is brown to dark grey, with three pairs of white dots around the spinnerets. [3]

Name

The etymology of the genus name is unknown. [2]

Taxonomy

The genus Clitaetra was transferred from Tetragnathidae to Nephilidae by Kuntner in 2006, and subsequently transferred from Nephilidae to Araneidae. [3]

Species

As of September 2025, this genus includes five species: [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Genus Clitaetra". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 Kuntner, M. 2006. Phylogenetic systematics of a Gondwanan nephilid spider lineage Clitaetrinae (Araneae, Nephilidae). Zoologica Scripta 35(1):19-62. PDF Archived 2006-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 3 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N.; Webb, P. (2022). The Araneidae of South Africa. Version 2: part 1 (A-C). South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 56. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6326922. Creative Commons by small.svg  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
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