Steatoda

Steatoda bipunctata, copyright Roger Harris.

Belongs within: Theridiidae.

Steatoda, false widow spiders, is a cosmopolitan genus of dark-coloured cob web spiders with a large colulus and teeth on the anterior margin of the chelicerae. A number of species in this genus are found in association with humans. The cupboard spider S. grossa is a native of the Palaearctic that has become widely introduced around the world, including to the Americas and New Zealand.

<==Steatoda Sundevall 1833 PVD10
    |--S. albomaculata (De Geer 1778) PO08
    |--S. ancorata (Holmberg 1876) FM11
    |--S. bipunctata (Linnaeus 1758) GGG04
    |--S. borealis (Hentz 1850) GGG04
    |--S. capensis Hann 1990 PVD10
    |--S. caricis Fickert 1876 (n. d.) [=Enoplognatha caricis] W76
    |--S. castanea CM07
    |--S. diamantina Levi 1962 FM11
    |--S. erigoniformis (Pickard-Cambridge 1872) PO08
    |--S. femorale E07
    |--S. fulva (Keyserling 1884) GLV14
    |--S. grossa (Koch 1838) PVD10 [incl. Theridium sericum Urquhart 1886 NS00]
    |--S. latifasciata (Simon 1873) PO08
    |--S. lepida (Pickard-Cambridge 1879) PVD10
    |--S. livens B96
    |--S. marmorata K18
    |--S. maura (Simon 1909) PO08
    |--S. nobilis E95
    |--S. nubilosa Urquhart 1893 (n. d.) NS00
    |--S. paykulliana (Walckenaer 1805) PO08
    |--S. succini Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
    |--S. triangulosa (Walckenaer 1802) PO08
    `--S. truncata (Urquhart 1888) PVD10 [=Theridium truncatum NS00]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B96] Brunet, B. 1996. Spiderwatch: A Guide to Australian Spiders. Reed New Holland: Sydney.

[CM07] Cokendolpher, J. C., & P. G. Mitov. 2007. Natural enemies. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., G. Machado & G. Giribet (eds) Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones pp. 339–373. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[E95] Elgar, M. A. 1995. The duration of copulation in spiders: comparative patterns. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 52: 1–11.

[E07] Elliott, M. G. 2007. Annotated catalogue of the Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) of Australia. Zootaxa 1428: 1–83.

[FM11] Freire-Jr, G. de B., & P. C. Motta. 2011. Effects of experimental fire regimes on the abundance and diversity of cursorial arachnids of Brazilian savannah (cerrado biome). Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 263–272.

[GGG04] Garb, J. E., A. González & R. G. Gillespie. 2004. The black widow spider genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae): phylogeny, biogeography, and invasion history. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31: 1127–1142.

[GLV14] García, L. F., M. Lacava & C. Viera. 2014. Diet composition and prey selectivity by the spider Oecobius concinnus (Araneae: Oecobiidae) from Colombia. Journal of Arachnology 42 (2): 199–201.

[K18] Kohl, F. F. 1918. Die Hautflügergruppe "Sphecinae". IV. Teil. Die natürliche Gattung Sceliphron Klug (Pelopoeus Latr.). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museum in Wien 32: 1–171.

[NS00] Nicholls, D. C., P. J. Sirvid, S. D. Pollard & M. Walker. 2000. A list of arachnid primary types held in Canterbury Museum. Records of the Canterbury Museum 14: 37–48.

[PVD10] Paquin, P., C. J. Vink & N. Dupérré. 2010. Spiders of New Zealand: annotated family key and species list. Manaaki Whenua Press: Lincoln (New Zealand).

[PO08] Pluess, T., I. Opatovsky, E. Gavish-Regev, Y. Lubin & M. H. Schmidt. 2008. Spiders in wheat fields and semi-desert in the Negev (Israel). Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 368–373.

[S93] Selden, P. A. 1993. Arthropoda (Aglaspidida, Pycnogonida and Chelicerata). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 297–320. Chapman & Hall: London.

[W76] Wunderlich, J. 1976. Zur Spinnenfauna Deutschlands, XVI. Zur Kenntnis der mitteleuropäischen Arten der Gattungen Enoplognatha Pavesi und Robertus O. Pick.-Cambridge (Araneida: Theridiidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 57 (1–3): 97–112.

Last updated: 15 January 2022.