''Cryptachaea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s in the

Theridiidae Theridiidae, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, is a large family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. This diverse, globally distributed family includes ...

(tangle web spider) family.

Taxonomy

Many species in this genus used to reside in ''

Achaearanea ''Achaearanea'' is a genus of Theridiidae, comb-footed spiders that was first described by Embrik Strand in 1929. It used to include the extremely abundant common house spider, which was transferred to genus ''Parasteatoda'' in 2006, together wi ...

'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally established as a subgenus of ''

Theridion ''Theridion'' is a genus of tangle-web spiders with a worldwide distribution. Notable species are the Hawaiian happy face spider (''T. grallator''), named for the iconic symbol on its abdomen, and '' T. nigroannulatum'', one of few sp ...

''.

Distribution

This is mostly a

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

genus, with many species in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. One species is cosmopolitan, one species occurs in the whole

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

, another only in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. '' C. veruculata'' was introduced to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Name

The genus name is a combination of ''Achaea'', the old name of the genus ''Achaearanea'', and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

κρυπτός "hidden". The genus is called ''Iwama-himegumo zoku'' in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Species

* '' Cryptachaea acoreensis'' (Berland, 1932) — Cosmopolitan * ''

Cryptachaea alacris ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Keyserling, 1884) — Colombia, Venezuela * '' Cryptachaea altiventer'' (Keyserling, 1884) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea amazonas'' Buckup, Marques & Rodrigues, 2012 * '' Cryptachaea ambera'' (Levi, 1963) — USA * ''

Cryptachaea analista ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * ''

Cryptachaea anastema ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Venezuela * ''

Cryptachaea azteca ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1936) — Mexico * ''

Cryptachaea banosensis ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Ecuador * ''

Cryptachaea barra ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * ''

Cryptachaea bellula ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Keyserling, 1891) — Brazil * ''

Cryptachaea blattea ''Cryptachaea blattea'' is a species of cobweb spider in the family Theridiidae. It is found in Africa, and has been introduced into the United States, Chile, the Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores ( ...

'' (Urquhart, 1886) — cosmopolitan * ''

Cryptachaea caliensis ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Colombia, Ecuador * ''

Cryptachaea canionis ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Chamberlin & Gertsch, 1929) — USA * ''

Cryptachaea caqueza ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Colombia * '' Cryptachaea chilensis'' (Levi, 1963) — Chile * '' Cryptachaea chiricahua'' (Levi, 1955) — USA * ''

Cryptachaea cinnabarina ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in ''Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally esta ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea diamantina'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea dromedariformis'' (Roewer, 1942) — Ecuador, Peru * '' Cryptachaea eramus'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea fresno'' (Levi, 1955) — USA * '' Cryptachaea gigantea'' (Keyserling, 1884) — Peru * ''

Cryptachaea gigantipes ''Cryptachaea gigantipes'', known vernacularly as the white porch spider, is a species of cobweb spider in the family Theridiidae. It is native to south-eastern Australia and is an introduced species in New Zealand. Taxonomy The species was f ...

'' (Keyserling, 1890) — Australia, New Zealand * '' Cryptachaea hirta'' (Taczanowski, 1873) — Panama to Argentina * '' Cryptachaea ingijonathorum'' Buckup, Marques & Rodrigues, 2012 * '' Cryptachaea inops'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil, Guyana * '' Cryptachaea insulsa'' (Gertsch & Mulaik, 1936) — USA, Mexico * '' Cryptachaea isana'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea jequirituba'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina * '' Cryptachaea kaspi'' (Levi, 1963) — Peru * '' Cryptachaea koepckei'' (Levi, 1963) — Peru * '' Cryptachaea lota'' (Levi, 1963) — Chile * '' Cryptachaea manzanillo'' (Levi, 1959) — Mexico * '' Cryptachaea maraca'' (Buckup & Marques, 1991) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea maxima'' (Keyserling, 1891) — Brazil * ''

Cryptachaea meraukensis ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in ''Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally esta ...

'' ( Chrysanthus, 1963) — New Guinea * '' Cryptachaea migrans'' (Keyserling, 1884) — Venezuela to Peru, Brazil * '' Cryptachaea milagro'' (Levi, 1963) — Ecuador * '' Cryptachaea maldonado'' Buckup, Marques & Rodrigues, 2012 * '' Cryptachaea nayaritensis'' (Levi, 1959) — Mexico * '' Cryptachaea oblivia'' (O. P.-Cambridge, 1896) — Costa Rica, Panama * '' Cryptachaea orana'' (Levi, 1963) — Ecuador * '' Cryptachaea pallipera'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea parana'' (Levi, 1963) — Paraguay * '' Cryptachaea passiva'' (Keyserling, 1891) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea pilaton'' (Levi, 1963) — Ecuador * '' Cryptachaea pinguis'' (Keyserling, 1886) — Brazil, Uruguay * '' Cryptachaea porteri'' (Banks, 1896) — USA to Panama, West Indies * '' Cryptachaea projectivulva'' (Yoshida, 2001) — Japan * '' Cryptachaea pura'' (O. P.-Cambridge, 1894) — Mexico * ''

Cryptachaea pusillana ''Cryptachaea pusillana'' is a species of tangle web spider, family Theridiidae Theridiidae, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, is a large family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders first described b ...

'' (Roewer, 1942) — French Guiana * '' Cryptachaea pydanieli'' (Buckup & Marques, 1991) — Brazil * ''

Cryptachaea rafaeli ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in '' Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally est ...

'' (Buckup & Marques, 1991) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea rapa'' (Levi, 1963) — Paraguay * '' Cryptachaea rioensis'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea riparia'' (Blackwall, 1834) — Palearctic * '' Cryptachaea rostra'' (Zhu & Zhang, 1992) — China * '' Cryptachaea rostrata'' (O. P.-Cambridge, 1896) — Mexico to Venezuela * '' Cryptachaea rupicola'' (Emerton, 1882) — USA, Canada * '' Cryptachaea schneirlai'' (Levi, 1959) — Panama * '' Cryptachaea schraderorum'' (Levi, 1959) — Costa Rica * '' Cryptachaea serenoae'' (Gertsch & Archer, 1942) — USA * '' Cryptachaea sicki'' (Levi, 1963) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea taeniata'' (Keyserling, 1884) — Guatemala to Peru * ''

Cryptachaea tovarensis ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in ''Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally esta ...

'' (Levi, 1963) — Venezuela * ''

Cryptachaea trinidensis ''Cryptachaea'' is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family. Taxonomy Many species in this genus used to reside in ''Achaearanea'', which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally esta ...

'' (Levi, 1959) — Trinidad, Peru * '' Cryptachaea uviana'' (Levi, 1963) — Peru * ''

Cryptachaea veruculata ''Cryptachaea veruculata'' is a spider native to Australia and New Zealand. It has been introduced into England and Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland reg ...

'' (Urquhart, 1886) — Australia, New Zealand, England, Belgium * '' Cryptachaea vivida'' (Keyserling, 1891) — Brazil * '' Cryptachaea zonensis'' (Levi, 1959) — Panama to Peru, Brazil

References

Theridiidae Theridiidae genera Cosmopolitan spiders {{Theridiidae-stub