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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynes » Cobweb Spiders (Theridiidae)

Family Theridiidae - Cobweb Spiders

Tidarren sisyphoides - female Light Brown Widow - Latrodectus geometricus - female Male Black Widow????? - Latrodectus W. Black Widow (L hesperus) - Latrodectus hesperus - female Cobweb Spider - Steatoda triangulosa - female Theridion melanurum Hahn, 1831 (m/f pair) - Theridion melanurum - male - female Spider Egg Sac? - Latrodectus geometricus spider
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynes)
Family Theridiidae (Cobweb Spiders)
Other Common Names
Cobweb Spiders
Comb-Footed Spiders
Numbers
Worldwide, there are over 2200 species in 96 genera, however family is not considered to be monophyletic.

Levi describes 234 species in 32 genera in our region. (1)
Identification
Key
Remarks
Family includes Widow Spiders, Genus Latrodectus and the Common house spider - Achaearanea tepidariorum

Three theridiid genera, Achaearanea, Anelosimus, and Theridion, are known to contain subsocial species, but the only social spiders in our area are in the genus Anelosimus.
Works Cited
1.Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual
By D. Ubick, P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing and V. Roth (eds)
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 1:20pm
Additional contributions by Jay Barnes, Christopher Hunt, Jeff Hollenbeck, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, kschnei
Last updated 2 October, 2008 - 11:24am

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