Prodidomus

Prodidomus
male P. purpurascens
P. rufus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Prodidomidae
Genus:	Prodidomus Hentz, 1847 [1]
Type species
P. rufus Hentz, 1847
Species
54, see text
Synonyms [1]
HyltoniaBirabén, 1954 [2]

Prodidomus is a genus of long-spinneret ground spiders that was first described by Nicholas Marcellus Hentz in 1847. ^[3]

Distribution

Spiders in this genus are found in Africa, Europe, Oceania, Asia, South America, the United States, on the Greater Antilles, and Saint Helena. ^[1]

Description

See also: Glossary of spider terms

Prodidomus are small spiders with a total length of males 1.9–4.3 mm and females 1.8–5.0 mm. ^[4]

Carapace broadly oval, frontally straight, weakly covered with grey setae or bare. Longitudinal fovea absent or weak. Eight eyes with anterior row straight or weakly recurved and posterior row strongly procurved. Four eyes of each side virtually contiguous, forming triangle with posterior lateral eyes largest. Anterior median eyes circular and dark, while posterior median eyes are separated by their long diameter or less. Clypeus low, shorter than anterior lateral eyes diameter, curved downwards. Chelicerae widely divergent. ^[4]

Abdomen pale, with or without scattered, short, recumbent, grey setae. Anterior lateral spinnerets 10–20% of abdominal length, contiguous or slightly separated, with long piriform gland spigots. Posterior median eyes small while posterior lateral eyes are greatly enlarged and canoe-shaped. Legs laterigrade with leg formula 4123 and sparse setae with few weak spines. ^[4]

Species

As of September 2025 ^[update] it contains 54 species: ^[1]

• Prodidomus amaranthinus (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean
• Prodidomus aurantiacus Simon, 1890 – Yemen
• Prodidomus beattyi Platnick, 1977 – Australia (Western Australia, Northern Territory)
• Prodidomus bendee Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Queensland)
• Prodidomus bicolor Denis, 1957 – Sudan
• Prodidomus birmanicus Thorell, 1897 – Myanmar
• Prodidomus bryantae Alayón, 1995 – Cuba
• Prodidomus capensis Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
• Prodidomus chaperi (Simon, 1884) – India
• Prodidomus dalmasi Berland, 1920 – Kenya
• Prodidomus djibutensis Dalmas, 1919 – Somalia
• Prodidomus domesticus Lessert, 1938 – DR Congo
• Prodidomus duffeyi Cooke, 1964 – Ascension Island
• Prodidomus flavidus (Simon, 1884) – Algeria
• Prodidomus flavipes Lawrence, 1952 – South Africa
• Prodidomus flavus Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Queensland)
• Prodidomus geniculosus Dalmas, 1919 – Tunisia
• Prodidomus granulosus Cooke, 1964 – Rwanda
• Prodidomus inexpectatus Zamani, Chatzaki, Esyunin & Marusik, 2021 – Iran
• Prodidomus kimberley Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Western Australia, Northern Territory)
• Prodidomus lampeli Cooke, 1964 – Ethiopia
• Prodidomus latebricola Cooke, 1964 – Tanzania
• Prodidomus longiventris (Dalmas, 1919) – Philippines
• Prodidomus margala Platnick, 1976 – Pakistan
• Prodidomus maximus Lessert, 1936 – Mozambique
• Prodidomus nigellus Simon, 1890 – Yemen
• Prodidomus nigricaudus Simon, 1893 – Venezuela
• Prodidomus opacithorax Simon, 1893 – Venezuela
• Prodidomus palkai Cooke, 1972 – India
• Prodidomus papavanasanemensis Cooke, 1972 – India
• Prodidomus purpurascens Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
• Prodidomus purpureus Simon, 1907 – Guinea-Bissau
• Prodidomus redikorzevi Spassky, 1940 – Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan
• Prodidomus reticulatus Lawrence, 1927 – Namibia
• Prodidomus revocatus Cooke, 1964 – Mauritius
• Prodidomus robustus Dalmas, 1919 – Ethiopia
• Prodidomus rodolphianus Dalmas, 1919 – Kenya
• Prodidomus rollasoni Cooke, 1964 – Libya
• Prodidomus rufus Hentz, 1847 – Native probably to Africa, Mediterranean, Israel, Iraq. Introduced to USA, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, St. Helena, China, Japan, New Caledonia (type species)
• Prodidomus saharanpurensis (Tikader, 1982) – India
• Prodidomus sampeyae Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Western Australia)
• Prodidomus seemani Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Queensland)
• Prodidomus simoni Dalmas, 1919 – South Africa
• Prodidomus singulus Suman, 1967 – Hawaii
• Prodidomus sirohi Platnick, 1976 – India
• Prodidomus stella (Saaristo, 2002) – Seychelles
• Prodidomus tigrinus Dalmas, 1919 – Sierra Leone
• Prodidomus tirumalai Cooke, 1972 – India
• Prodidomus trihelicoides Seropian, Bulbulashvili, Makharadze & Baznikin, 2024 – Georgia
• Prodidomus venkateswarai Cooke, 1972 – India
• Prodidomus watongwensis Cooke, 1964 – Tanzania
• Prodidomus woodleigh Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Western Australia)
• Prodidomus wunderlichi Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 – Thailand
• Prodidomus yorke Platnick & Baehr, 2006 – Australia (Queensland)

See also

• List of Prodidominae species

References

1. "Gen. Prodidomus Hentz, 1847". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2025-09-24.
2. Platnick, N. I.; Baehr, B. (2006). "A revision of the Australasian ground spiders of the family Prodidomidae (Araneae, Gnaphosoidea)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 298: 9. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)298[1:AROTAG]2.0.CO;2.
3. Hentz, N. M. (1847). "Descriptions and figures of the araneides of the United States". Boston Journal of Natural History. 5: 443–478.
4. Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2023). The Prodidomidae of South Africa. 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. pp. 1–42. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7515818 . Retrieved 24 September 2025.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

External links

• Citizen science observations for Prodidomus at iNaturalist