Epeira

"Epeira" was a genus of spiders, now considered a junior synonym of genus "Araneus" Clerck, 1757.

It was first coined by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1805, for a range of spiders now considered Araneidae (orb weavers). Over time, a rather diverse set of spiders was grouped under the genus "Epeira", including species from the modern families Araneidae, Mimetidae ("Mimetus syllepsicus" described by Hentz, 1832), Nephilidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae, Theridiosomatidae ("Theridiosoma gemmosum", described by L. Koch, 1877 as "Theridion gemmosum"), Titanoecidae ("Nurscia albomaculata", described by Lucas, 1846 as "Epeira albo-maculata") and Uloboridae ("Uloborus glomosus", described by Walckenaer, 1842 as "Epeira glomosus")Platnick 2008] . "Epeira cylindrica" O. P-Cambridge, 1889 was at a time placed in Linyphiidae and is considered "incertae sedis", as "Araneus" cylindriformis" (Roewer, 1942).

"Epeira" was synonymized with the genus "Aranea" by Leach, 1815, and with "Araneus" by Simon, 1904 [Bonnet 1955] .

Throughout the 19th century, "Epeira" was used as a catch-all genus, similar to the once ubiquitous salticid genus "Attus". However, from 1911, to its last mention in 1957, only very few authors continued to use the genus in their publications, notably Franganillo (1913, 1918), Hingston (1932), Kaston (1948) and Marples (1957). Chamberlin & Ivie published a new species "Epeira miniata" in 1944, which was rejected.

Jean-Henri Fabre refers to "Argiope" spiders as "Epeira" in his 1928 book "The Life of the Spider" (La Vie des araignées), within the family "Epeirae". James Henry Emerton also uses the genus "Epeira" in his 1902 book "The Common Spiders of the United States", but refers to spiders mostly now considered "Araneus". The popular 1893 book "American Spiders and their Spinningwork" by Henry Christopher McCook also uses "Epeira" extensively.

In popular culture

The short documentary "Epeira diadema" (1952) by Italian director Alberto Ancilotto was nominated for an Oscar in 1953. It is about the spider today known as "Araneus diadematus".

Footnotes

References

* (1805): Tableau des aranéides ou caractères essentiels des tribus, genres, familles et races que renferme le genre Aranea de Linné, avec la désignation des espèces comprises dans chacune de ces divisions. Paris.
* (1955): Bibliographia Araneorum. Vol. 2.
* (2008): [http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html The world spider catalog] , version 9.0. "American Museum of Natural History".
* David Edwin Hill and Herbert Walter Levi, personal communication (2008).