Micrathena

Micrathena
Micrathena sagittata and web from Gadsden Co. Florida
Micrathena mitrata and web from Little River Canyon National Preserve, Fort Payne, Alabama
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Micrathena
Sundevall, 1833
Species

M. sagittata
M. gracilis
M. mitrata
 many more

Diversity
105 species

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 genus Micrathena and likely function as anti-predator defenses.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Magalhaes, Ivan L F; Santos, Adalberto J. (September 2012). "Phylogenetic analysis of Micrathena and Chaetacis spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) reveals multiple origins of extreme sexual size dimorphism and long abdominal spines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (1). doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00831.x. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  • Hentz, N. M. (1850). Descriptions and figures of the araneides of the United States. Boston J. nat. Hist. 6: 18-35, 271-295.


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