Panjange

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Panjange
Panjange casaroro male lateral.jpg
Male Panjange casaroro
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Pholcidae
Genus: Panjange
Deeleman-Reinhold & Deeleman, 1983
Type species
Panjange lanthana
Deeleman-Reinhold & Deeleman, 1983

Panjange is a genus of leaf-dwelling spiders in the family Pholcidae, widely distributed in the islands of Southeast Asia from Borneo and the Philippines to northern Australia. Panjange spiders exhibit some of the most extraordinary morphology among Pholcidae. Males of most species have eye stalks, sometimes with long pointed processes; males of some species have unusually elongated pedipalps, which in spiders function as copulatory organs; and females of some species have external portions of their genitalia strongly folded and extensible. The biological significance of these sexual modifications remain unclear. [1]

Contents

Naming and etymology

The genus Panjange was established in 1983 by biologists Christa L. Deeleman-Reinhold and P. R. Deeleman, to accommodate four new species. The genus derives from the Malay word panjang , meaning long and slender. [2]

Description

Male P. camiguin, frontal view, showing elongated eyestalks with pointed processes Panjange camiguin male prosoma SEM.jpg
Male P. camiguin, frontal view, showing elongated eyestalks with pointed processes

Panjange spiders are light yellow in color, with brownish patterning on the body. There are six eyes in two small groups: in males the eyes are situated on two stalks or turret-like structures. [2]

Species and distribution

The 18 species of Panjange are divided into three species groups: the nigrifrons group on Borneo (containing P. bakoP. iban, P. nigrifons, and P. sedgwiki); the cavicola group ranging from Sulawesi to northern Australia (comprising P. alba, P. cavicola, P. mirabilis, P. madang, and P. dubia); and the lanthana group in the Philippines, comprising P. bukidnon, P. camiguin, P. casaroro, P. dinagat, P. hamiguitan, P. isarog, P. lanthana, P. malagos, and P. marilog). [1]

Natural history

Female P. camiguin with egg sac parasitized by a wasp Panjange camiguin female with parasitized eggsac.jpg
Female P. camiguin with egg sac parasitized by a wasp

In the Philippines (lanthana group), most species seem to have low abundances and very patchy distributions, with few specimens found within a very small area and none in surrounding areas of apparently similar vegetation. This may have been related to the low abundance and patchiness of suitable large leaves. Specimens are usually collected between about 50 cm above ground to about 2 m, and they are likely to occur also in higher strata of the forest, possibly in higher abundances. The web is a domed sheet, most of which is closely attached to the underside of a leaf. The extremely fine silk is poorly visible except when the sheet is viewed directly from the side. Egg sacs are only slightly elongated and covered by a barely visible layer of silk. In one case (P. camiguin) eight of ten eggs in an egg sac were parasitized by a parasitic wasp. [1]

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Nusatidia is a genus of Asian sac spiders first described by Christa L. Deeleman-Reinhold in 2001.

Koppe is a genus of liocranid sac spiders first described by Christa L. Deeleman-Reinhold in 2001.

Oedignatha is a genus of Asian spiders first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1881 as a genus of corrinid sac spiders, and moved to Liocranidae in 2014.

Malamatidia is a genus of Southeast Asian sac spiders first described by Christa L. Deeleman-Reinhold in 2001.

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Christa Laetitia Deeleman-Reinhold is a Dutch arachnologist. She specializes in spiders from Southeast Asia and Southern Europe, particularly cave-dwelling and tropical spiders. She donated a collection of about 25,000 Southeast Asian spiders, the largest collection of Southeast Asian spiders in existence, to the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. In addition to numerous articles, she has written the book Forest Spiders of South East Asia (2001).

Apokayana is a genus of Malaysian and Indonesian cellar spiders first described by B. A. Huber, J. Eberle & D. Dimitrov in 2018.

Nipisa is a genus of southeastern Asian cellar spiders first described by B. A. Huber, J. Eberle & D. Dimitrov in 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Huber, Bernhard; Nuñeza, Olga M. (2015). "Evolution of genital asymmetry, exaggerated eye stalks, and extreme palpal elongation in Panjange spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae)" (PDF). European Journal of Taxonomy (169). doi: 10.5852/ejt.2015.169 .
  2. 1 2 Deeleman-Reinhold, C. L. &; Deeleman, P. R. (1983). "Studies on tropical Pholcidae I: Panjange, a new genus of Indo-australian leaf- and rock-dwelling pholcid spiders (Araneae)". Zoologische Mededelingen . 57: 121–130.

CC-BY-icon-80x15.png  This article incorporates text by Bernhard Huber and Olga M. Nuñeza available under the CC BY 3.0 license.