The spider genus Micrathena contains more than a hundred species, most of them Neotropical woodland orb-weavers.
The species are found in the Americas. Only three species occur in the eastern United States: females of M. gracilis (the Spined Micrathena) have five pairs of conical tubercles / spines on the abdomen, female M. mitrata have two short posterior pairs, and female M. sagittata (the Arrow-shaped Micrathena) have three pairs.
Species with extremely long spines evolved at least eight times in the Micrathena genus and likely function as anti-predator defenses.[1]
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Theridiidae is a large family of spiders, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders. The diverse family includes over 2,200 species in over 100 genera[3] of three-dimensional space-web-builders found throughout the world. Theridiid spiders are entelegyne (have a genital plate in the female) araneomorphecribellate (use sticky capture silk instead of woolly silk) spiders that often build tangle space webs and have a comb of serrated bristles (setae) on the tarsus of the fourth leg.
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The spider genus Micrathena contains more than a hundred species, most of them Neotropical woodland orb-weavers.
The species are found in the Americas. Only three species occur in the eastern United States: females of M. gracilis (the Spined Micrathena) have five pairs of conical tubercles / spines on the abdomen, female M. mitrata have two short posterior pairs, and female M. sagittata (the Arrow-shaped Micrathena) have three pairs.
Species with extremely long spines evolved at least eight times in the Micrathena genus and likely function as anti-predator defenses.[1]
