Theridula

Taxobox
name = "Theridula"


image_caption = Female "Theridula gonygaster" from Okinawa
image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Araneomorphae
familia = Theridiidae
genus = "Theridula"
genus_authority = Emerton, 1882
diversity_link = List of Theridiidae species#Theridula
diversity = 19 species
range_

range_map_width = 250px
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

"Theridula" is a genus of cobweb spiders, found in many (mostly tropical) parts of the world. Most species are about 2 to 3 mm in length.

"T. gonygaster" and other species build small webs on the lower surface of leaves and catch adult "Bemisia tabaci" (sweet potato whitefly). They can be observed very frequently in infested fields in the western and central USA.

pecies

* "Theridula albonigra" Caporiacco, 1949 (Kenya)
** "Theridula albonigra vittata" Caporiacco, 1949 (Kenya)
* "Theridula angula" Tikader, 1970 (India)
* "Theridula casas" Levi, 1954 (Mexico)
* "Theridula emertoni" Levi, 1954 (USA, Canada)
* "Theridula faceta" (O. P.-Cambridge, 1894) (Mexico, Guatemala)
* "Theridula gonygaster" (Simon, 1873) (Cosmopolitan)
* "Theridula huberti" Benoit, 1977 (St. Helena)
* "Theridula iriomotensis" Yoshida, 2001 (Japan)
* "Theridula multiguttata" Keyserling, 1896 (Brazil)
* "Theridula nigerrima" (Petrunkevitch, 1911) (Ecuador, Peru)
* "Theridula opulenta" (Walckenaer, 1842) (Cosmopolitan)
* "Theridula perlata" Simon, 1889 (Madagascar)
* "Theridula puebla" Levi, 1954 (Mexico, Panama)
* "Theridula pulchra" Berland, 1920 (East Africa)
* "Theridula sexpupillata" Mello-Leitão, 1941 (Brazil)
* "Theridula swatiae" Biswas, Saha & Raychaydhuri, 1997 (India)
* "Theridula theriella" Strand, 1907 (Madagascar)
* "Theridula zhangmuensis" Hu, 2001 (China)

References

* Levi, H.W. (1966). American Spider Genera "Theridula" and "Paratheridula" (Araneae: Theridiidae). "Psyche" 73:123-130. [http://psyche2.entclub.org/articles/73/73-123.pdf PDF] (with key to American "Theridula" species)
* Levi, H.W. (1957). The spider genera "Enoplognatha", "Theridion", and "Paidisca" in America north of Mexico (Araneae, Theridiidae). "Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist." 112:1-124.