Cyrtophora

Tent-web spider Cyrtophora citricola, copyright Ed Nieuwenhuys.

Belongs within: Araneidae.

Cyrtophora is a mostly Indo-Australian genus of spiders (with some species in Africa and the New World) whose members construct a horizontal orbweb with a tightly woven mesh and an extremely tight, permanent non-sticky spiral (Framenau & Scharff 2009).

Characters (from Framenau & Scharff 2009): Lateral eyes slightly separated; posterior eye row recurved or straight; legs relatively heavy; fourth leg with combined patella and tibia slightly shorter than femur, and shorter than combined metatarsus and tarsus; male pedipalp with embolus placed near median apophysis, supported by a conductor, basal cymbium concavity absent; female epigyne lacking a scape.

<==Cyrtophora Simon 1864 [incl. Euetria Thorell 1890, Suzumia Nakatsudi 1943] FS09
    |--*C. citricola (Forsskål 1775) [=Aranea citricola; incl. C. sculptilis Koch 1872] FS09
    |--C. beccarii (Thorell 1878) FS09
    |--C. cicatrosa (Stoliczka 1869) FS09
    |--C. cordiformis (Koch 1871) FS09
    |--C. crassipes (Rainbow 1897) [=Epeira crassipes, Aranea crassipes, Araneus crassipes] FS09
    |--C. cylindroides (Walckenaer 1842) FS09 (see below for synonymy)
    |--C. exanthematica (Doleschall 1859) FS09
    |--C. feai (Thorell 1887) AM11
    |--C. gazellae (Karsch 1878) [=Epeira gazellae, Aranea gazellae, Araneus gazellae] FS09
    |--C. hirta Koch 1872 FS09
    |--C. moluccensis (Doleschall 1857) FS09
    |--C. monulfi Chrysanthus 1960 FS09
    |--C. parnasia Koch 1872 FS09
    |--C. rainbowi (Roewer 1955) [=Cyclosa rainbowi, Epeira pallida Rainbow 1897 non Walckenaer 1805, Cyc. pallida] FS09
    |--C. trigona (Koch 1871) [=Epeira trigona, Aranea trigona, Araneus trigonus] FS09
    `--C. unicolor (Doleschall 1857) FS09

Cyrtophora cylindroides (Walckenaer 1842) FS09 [=Epeira cylindroides R13; incl. E. nephilina Koch 1871 FS09, E. viridipes Doleschall 1859 FS09]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AM11] Araujo, D., V. F. Mattos, A. M. Giroti, M. G. Kraeski, L. S. Carvalho & A. D. Brescovit. 2011. Cytogenetical characterization of six orb-weaver species and review of cytogenetical data for Araneidae. Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 337–344.

[FS09] Framenau, V. W. & N. Scharff. 2009. Cyrtobill darwini, a new species in a new orb-weaving spider genus from Australia (Araneae: Araneidae: Cyrtophorinae). Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (3): 315–328.

[R13] Rainbow, W. J. 1913. Arachnida from the Solomon Islands. Records of the Australian Museum 10 (1): 1–16.