''Celaenia'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
South Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
orb-weaver spiders first described by
Tamerlan Thorell
Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell (3 May 1830 – 22 December 1901) was a Swedish arachnologist.
Thorell studied spiders with Giacomo Doria at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale de Genoa. He corresponded with other arachnologists, such as Octavius P ...
in 1868.
Species
it contains eleven species:
*''
Celaenia atkinsoni''
(O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1880) – Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand
*''
Celaenia calotoides''
Rainbow, 1908 – Australia (New South Wales)
*''
Celaenia distincta''
(O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) – Australia (New South Wales, Tasmania)
*''
Celaenia dubia''
(O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) – Australia (New South Wales, Victoria)
*''
Celaenia excavata
''Celaenia excavata'', the bird dropping spider of Australia and New Zealand, derives its name from mimicking bird droppings to avoid predators, mainly birds. However, there are other species of spider that resemble bird droppings, for example s ...
''
(L. Koch, 1867) – Australia, New Zealand
*''
Celaenia hectori''
(O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1880) – New Zealand
*''
Celaenia olivacea''
(Urquhart, 1885) – New Zealand
*''
Celaenia penna''
(Urquhart, 1887) – New Zealand
*''
Celaenia tuberosa''
(Urquhart, 1889) – New Zealand
*''
Celaenia tumidosa''
Urquhart, 1891 – Australia (Tasmania)
*''
Celaenia voraginosa''
Urquhart, 1891 – Australia (Tasmania)
References
Araneidae
Spiders of Australia
Spiders of New Zealand
Araneomorphae genera
Taxa named by Tamerlan Thorell
{{Araneidae-stub