''Misumessus'' 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 ...

of North American and Caribbean

crab spiders The Thomisidae are a family of spiders, including about 170 genera and over 2,100 species. The common name crab spider is often linked to species in this family, but is also applied loosely to many other families of spiders. Many members of thi ...

first described by

Nathan Banks Nathan Banks (April 13, 1868 – January 24, 1953) was an American entomologist noted for his work on Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Hymenoptera, and Acarina (mites). He started work on mites in 1880 with the USDA. In 1909 he reported many Costa Rican ...

in 1904. They look similar to members of '' Misumena'', but are much spinier. It was considered a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus until 2017, but its taxonomic standing has been debated throughout the 20th century, first as a synonym of '' Misumenops'', then later as its subgenus. It was raised to genus status in 2008, but has still been confused with similar genera, some of which were only known by character descriptions made 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, ...

nearly fifty years earlier.

Species

it contains seven species: *'' Misumessus bishopae'' Edwards, 2017 – Puerto Rico, Dominica, Grenadines *'' Misumessus blackwalli'' Edwards, 2017 – Bermuda *'' Misumessus dicaprioi'' Edwards, 2017 – USA *'' Misumessus lappi'' Edwards, 2017 – USA *'' Misumessus oblongus'' (Keyserling, 1880) – Canada, USA *'' Misumessus quinteroi'' Edwards, 2017 – Central America, Caribbean *'' Misumessus tamiami'' Edwards, 2017 – USA

References

Thomisidae Thomisidae genera Spiders of North America Spiders of Central America Taxa named by Nathan Banks {{Thomisidae-stub