Steatoda paykulliana | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
Class: | Arachnida |
Order: | Araneae |
Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
Family: | Theridiidae |
Genus: | Steatoda |
Species: | S. paykulliana |
Binomial name | |
Steatoda paykulliana Walckenaer, 1805 | |
Synonyms | |
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Steatoda paykulliana is a species of false black widow spider in the tangle-web spiders family, [1] native to the Mediterranean countries, Southern Europe and Western Asia. The species is named in honor of the Swedish naturalist Gustaf von Paykull (1757–1826).
As is evident from one of the common names associated with Steatoda species, false widow, S. paykulliana resembles black widow spiders in shape and color markings. The female S. paykulliana body length is from 8 mm, to 12 mm when pregnant. The abdomen is globular, colored a shiny black, with two non-overlapping stripes, one dorsal and one lateral. This differentiates it from true black widow spiders that have dorsal and ventral markings. The stripes are ivory-yellow on young females and orange-red on mature ones. [2] The male is only about half the size of the female, with less prominent markings. [3]
S. paykulliana's venom is much less potent than the true black widows', and its effect on humans is minor, similar to a wasp sting. [4]
S. paykulliana spins typical tangled three-dimensional webs, usually on sloping ground covered with vegetation. A cocoon is spun around the eggs. In countries of former Yugoslavia, the spiderlings hatch at the end of summer, hibernate in the winter, and reach adulthood at the beginning of the next summer. [2]
S. paykulliana is widespread throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It has been reported in Portugal, [5] Spain, [6] France [7] [8] including Corsica, [9] Belgium, [10] Italy, [11] Switzerland, [12] Austria, [13] Slovenia, [14] Croatia, [15] Serbia, [16] Bosnia and Herzegovina, [15] North Macedonia, [17] Albania, [18] Romania, [19] Ukraine, [20] Bulgaria, [21] Greece, [22] [23] Malta, [24] Turkey, [25] [26] [23] Georgia, [23] Lebanon, [27] Syria, [23] Israel, [28] [23] Palestine, [23] Azerbaijan, [29] [30] [23] Dagestan, [31] Russia, [23] Northwest China, [23] Kazakhstan, [23] Southern Kyrgyzstan, [23] Tajikistan, [23] Uzbekistan, [23] Turkmenistan, [23] Iran, [23] [32] Saudi Arabia, [23] Yemen, [23] Egypt, [23] Ethiopia, [23] Eritrea, [23] Libya, [23] Tunisia, [23] Algeria, [23] Morocco, [23] the Netherlands [33] and Great Britain. [34] [35] Cyprus
Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus. The females are well known for their distinctive black and red coloring and for the fact that they will occasionally eat their mates after reproduction. The species is native to North America. The venom can cause pain and other symptoms, but is rarely fatal to healthy humans.
Latrodectus is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. However, the diversity of species is much greater. A member of the family Theridiidae, this genus contains 34 species, which include several North American "black widows". Besides these, North America also has the red widow Latrodectus bishopi and the brown widow Latrodectus geometricus, which, in addition to North America, has a much wider geographic distribution. Elsewhere, others include the European black widow, the Australian redback spider and the closely related New Zealand katipō, several different species in Southern Africa that can be called button spiders, and the South American black-widow spiders. Species vary widely in size. In most cases, the females are dark-coloured and can be readily identified by reddish markings on the central underside (ventral) abdomen, which are often hourglass-shaped.
Theridiidae, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, is a large family of araneomorph spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. This diverse, globally distributed family includes over 3,000 species in 124 genera, and is the most common arthropod found in human dwellings throughout the world.
The spider genus Steatoda, in the family Theridiidae, includes about 120 recognized species, distributed around the world. One common name is cupboard spider, for many species build their webs in dark, sheltered, undisturbed places around the house or garden, in sheds and garages, under garden, in compost bins, and the like. Signs of the cupboard spider include small white spots of spider droppings, like small splashes of paint, on the floor underneath the web.
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Parasteatoda is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Allan Frost Archer in 1946. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek "para-" (παρά), meaning "near" or "next to", and the theridiid genus Steatoda. The Japanese name for this genus is O-himegumo zoku.
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Iberina is a genus of dwarf sheet spiders that was first described by Eugène Simon in 1881.
Cepheia is a monotypic genus of European araneomorph spiders in the family Synaphridae containing the single species, Cepheia longiseta. It was first described as Theonoe longiseta in 1881, and was moved to its own genus in 1894. Originally placed with the tangle-web spiders, it was moved several times before settling in the Synaphridae in 2003. Paolo Brignoli noted that it is an unidentifiable theridiid.
Sardinidion is a monotypic genus of comb-footed spiders containing the single species, Sardinidion blackwalli. It was first described by J. Wunderlich in 1995, and is found in Africa and Europe.
Simitidion is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by J. Wunderlich in 1992. As of June 2020 it contains three species, native to Africa, Asia and Europe, and introduced to Canada: S. agaricographum, S. lacuna, and S. simile.
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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).
Theonoe is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1881.
Staveleya is a genus of European sheet weavers. Its current name is a replacement for Hypsocephalus, already a genus in the snapper family of fish. The type species was originally described under the name "Microneta pusilla", but the type species is designated one of the junior synonyms, "Cnephalocotes dahli" because it has a physical specimen. The genus is named in honour of Eliza Fanny Staveley, the first woman to publish research on arachnology in the United Kingdom.