''Phryganoporus'' 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n intertidal spiders that was first described by

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist in history, ...

in 1908. Its five species only occur in

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, with one species also occurring on

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

, south of

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. The name is derived from Greek ''phryganon'' ("dry stick") and ''poros'' ("hole"), referring to the web that is often built on dry shrubs or low vegetation with a hole as an entrance. Though they are typically solitary, '' P. candidus'' is also known for its communal behaviour, building "nests" made of branches and leaves knitted together with silk, creating tunnels for the spiders to live. Most of these webs are built late in the summer by individual females working separately in the construction and cleaning of their individual webs. Their behaviour is likely due to

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

mediated sibling tolerance, and is not considered true cooperative behaviour. As they mature, they grow less tolerant of each other and tend to disperse over the course of the summer. In the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

area of New South Wales, these nests have caused foliage matting, leaf fall and withering of limbs in fruit trees.

Species

it contains five species: *'' Phryganoporus candidus'' (L. Koch, 1872) (

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

) – Australia (mainland, Norfolk Is.) *'' Phryganoporus davidleei'' Gray, 2002 – Australia (Western Australia, South Australia) *'' Phryganoporus melanopygus'' Gray, 2002 – Australia (Western Australia) *'' Phryganoporus nigrinus'' Simon, 1908 – Australia (Western Australia to Queensland) *'' Phryganoporus vandiemeni'' (Gray, 1983) – Australia (Victoria, Tasmania)

References

Araneomorphae genera Desidae Spiders of Australia Taxa named by Eugène Simon {{Desidae-stub