Spintharus Hentz, 1850

Durán-Barrón, César G., Rosas, María V. & Contreras-Ramos, Atilano, 2013, Phylogenetic relationships of the comb-footed spider subfamily Spintharinae (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae), with generic diagnoses and a key to the genera, Zootaxa 3666 (2), pp. 171-193 : 187

Spintharus Hentz, 1850

( Fig. 9 A)

Hentz, 1850. J. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 6, p. 283. Type species by monotypy: S. flavidus Hentz, 1850 , op. cit., p. 284, pl. 10, fig. 8.

Diagnosis. The male palpus presents the cymbial hood in a hat-like shape ( Fig. 7 C); while the other genera have a cymbial hood as a hook or half moon shape ( Fig. 7 A–B). The architecture of an “H”-like web is shared with Thwaitesia and Episinus . Levi and Levi (1962, figs. 203, 204) comment that Spintharus may be distinguished because of an opisthosoma longer than wide, widest anterior to middle. Studied specimens had an unpatterned, uniformly pale brown opisthosoma.

Distribution. From the United States to Bolivia and Brazil, with one species found in Pakistan (Platnick 2013).

Material examined. Spintharus flavidus . U. S. A., Tennessee, Stony Point, 20 August 1939, R. V. Chamberlin, 1 3 (AMNH); (no locality) R. V. Chamberlin, 1 Ƥ (AMNH).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Male pedipalp. A, Steatoda grossa (left palp, ventral view, arrow = cymbial hood); B, Episinus cognatus (left palp, ventral view); C, Spintharus flavidus (left palp, ventral view, arrow = cymbial hood); D, Thwaitesia affinis (left palp, dorsal view, arrow = alveolar cavity of cymbium); E, Euryopis californica (left palp, dorsal view); F, Chrosiothes portalensis (left palp, ventral view, arrow = apex of flagellum); G, C. silvaticus (left palp, ventral view, arrow = apex of flagellum).

FIGURE 9. Opisthosoma (dorsal view). A, Spintharus flavidus Ƥ; B, Stemmops orsus Ƥ; C, S. ornata Ƥ; D, Thwaitesia bracteata Ƥ.