Christa Laetitia Deeleman-Reinhold (23 November 1930 – 26 March 2025) was a Dutch

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, ticks, and mites. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly ...

. She specialized in

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 from

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and

Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

, particularly cave-dwelling and tropical spiders. She donated a collection of about 25,000 Southeast Asian spiders, the largest collection of Southeast Asian spiders in existence, to the

Naturalis Biodiversity Center Naturalis Biodiversity Center () is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively ...

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

. In addition to numerous articles, she wrote the book ''Forest Spiders of South East Asia'' (2001). Deeleman-Reinhold was born on 23 November 1930 to Dutch parents on the island of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. Her family returned to the Netherlands in 1935, and she entered

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

in 1949. After three years she began working at the Dutch

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

, studying

mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate a ...

es under museum director

Hilbrand Boschma Hilbrand Boschma (22 April 1893 – 22 July 1976) was a Dutch zoologist and director of the Rijksmuseum of Natural History in Leiden. Boschma studied botany and zoology at the University of Amsterdam. He went to the former Dutch East Indies, w ...

. She began studying spiders as a postgraduate, first studying Dutch ground spiders, and later cave spiders of the genus ''

Troglohyphantes ''Troglohyphantes'' is a genus of sheet weavers that was first described by G. Joseph in 1881. The genus name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ('' troglo-''), meaning "cave (dweller)", and ''-hyphantes'', a common ending for linyphiid gen ...

'' under the supervision of , and earned a PhD from Leiden University in 1978. She was married to businessman Paul Robert Deeleman, who accompanied her on multiple collecting expeditions to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and Southeast Asia. Her husband died in 1989, and she spent the next decade working on her ''mangum opus'', ''Forest Spiders of South East Asia'' (2001), a nearly 600-page work in which she revised six spider families, describing 18 new genera and 115 new species. She continued to actively publish until the age of 93. Reinhold died on 26 March 2025, at the age of 94.

Taxa named for Deeleman-Reinhold

*'' Deelemania'' Jocqué & Bosmans, 1983 *''

Deelemanella ''Deelemanella'' is a monotypic taxon, monotypic genus of Theridiidae, comb-footed spiders containing the single species, ''Deelemanella borneo''. It was first described by H. Yoshida in 2003, and is found on Borneo. This genus was named after th ...

'' Yoshida, 2003 *'' Deelemanikara'' Jäger, 2021 *'' Troglohyphantes deelemanae'' Tanasevitch, 1987 *'' Harpactea deelemanae'' Dunin, 1989 *'' Kenocymbium deelemanae'' Millidge & Russell-Smith, 1992 *'' Hersilia deelemanae'' Baehr & Baehr, 1993 *'' Dianleucauge deelemanae'' Song & Zhu, 1994 *'' Amaurobius deelemanae'' Thaler & Knoflach, 1995 *'' Dubiaranea deelemanae'' Millidge, 1995 *'' Cryphoecina deelemanae'' Deltshev, 1997 *''

'' Yoshida, 2003 *'' Molione christae'' Yoshida, 2003 *'' Rhitymna deelemanae'' Jäger, 2003 *'' Herennia deelemanae'' Kuntner, 2005 *''

Spermophora deelemanae ''Spermophora'' is a genus of cellar spiders that was first described by Nicholas Marcellus Hentz in 1841. Species it contains 45 species, found in Africa, Europe, Oceania, Asia, the United States, and Brazil: *'' Spermophora abibae'' Huber, 2 ...

'' Huber, 2005 *'' Dolichognatha deelemanae'' Smith, 2008

Selected publications

*Deeleman-Reinhold, 1971: "Beitrag zur Kenntnis höhlenbewohnender Dysderidae (Araneida) aus Jugoslawien." ''Razprave slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti'', vol. 14 pp. 95–120. *Deeleman-Reinhold, 1974: "The cave spider fauna of Montenegro (Araneae)." ''Glasnik Republičkog Zavoda za zaštitu prirode i Prirodnjačkog Muzeja'', vol. 6 pp. 9–33 *Deeleman-Reinhold, 1978: "Revision of the cave-dwelling and related spiders of the genus Troglohyphantes Joseph (Linyphiidae), with special reference to the Yugoslav species." ''Academia Scientiarum et Artium Slovenica, Classis IV: Historia Naturalis, Institutum Biologicum Ionnis Hadži, Ljubljana'', vol. 23 pp. 1–220
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*Deeleman-Reinhold, 1980: "Contribution to the knowledge of the southeast Asian spiders of the families Pacullidae and Tetrablemmidae." ''Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden'', vol. 56 pp. 65–82
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*Deeleman-Reinhold, 1981: "Remarks on Origin and Distribution of Troglobitic Spiders". ''Proc. 8th Int. Congr. Speleology'', blz. 305–308.
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*Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen, 1987: "Micropholcus fauroti (Simon) n. comb., a pantropical, synanthropic spider (Araneae: Pholcidae)." ''Entomologische Berichten, Amsterdam,'' vol. 47, pp. 73–77 *Deeleman-Reinhold & Deeleman, 1988: "Révision des Dysderinae (Araneae, Dysderidae), les espèces mediterranéennes occidentales exceptées." ''Tijdschrift voor Entomologie'', vol. 131 pp. 141–269 *Deeleman-Reinhold, 1993: "A remarkable troglobitic tetrablemmid spider from a cave in Thailand (Arachnida: Araneae: Tetrablemmidae)." ''Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society'', vol. 41 n. 2 pp. 99–103 *Deeleman-Reinhold, 1995: "The Ochyroceratidae of the Indo-Pacific region (Araneae)." ''The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology'' Supplement, n. 2, pp. 1–103 * Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001: ''Forest spiders of South East Asia: With a revision of the sac and ground spiders (Araneae: Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Liocranidae, Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae and Trochanterriidae.'' Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, pp. 1–591. * Floren, A. & Deeleman-Reinhold, C.L. (2005): "Diversity of arboreal spiders in primary and disturbed tropical forests." ''Journal of Arachnology'', vol. 33 nr. 2, pp. 323–333. *Deeleman-Reinhold, 2009: "Spiny theridiids in the Asian tropics. Systematics, notes on behaviour and species richness (Araneae: Theridiidae: ''Chrysso, Meotipa'')". ''Contrib. Nat. Hist.'', vol. 12, blz. 403–436.
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*Deeleman-Reinhold, 2009: "Description of the lynx spiders of a canopy fogging project in northern Borneo (Araneae: Oxyopidae), with description of a new genus and six new species of Hamataliwa." ''Zoologische Medelingen Leiden'', vol. 83, pp. 673–700
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deeleman-Reinhold, Christa L. 1930 births 2025 deaths Arachnologists Dutch women scientists Leiden University alumni 20th-century Dutch biologists Dutch zoologists Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies 20th-century Dutch women