Leucauge

Leucauge (/luːˈkɔːɡeɪ/) is a spider genus of long-jawed orb weavers, with over 160 species and fully pantropical distribution.

Leucauge
Leucauge venusta (orchard spider)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Tetragnathidae
Genus: Leucauge
White, 1841
Diversity
167 species
Synonyms
  • Alcimosphenus Simon, 1895[1]
  • Mecynometa Simon, 1894[1]
  • Opadometa Archer, 1951[1]
  • Opas O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896[1]
  • Plesiometa F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1903[2]

The genus was first documented in Scottish zoologist Adam White's 1841 Description of new or little known Arachnida. Charles Darwin had suggested the name of the genus and collected the first specimen in May 1832, later named L. argyrobapta.

A vague description and the loss of the only specimen left the genus ill-defined. Leucauge developed into something of a wastebasket taxon containing 300 loosely related species, until research in the year 2010 resolved L. argyrobapta as a synonym of the quite common L. venusta and allowed revision and reclassing of the genus.[3] However, a 2018 paper restored Leucauge argyrobapta as a separate species.[4]

Orchard orb weaver (Leucauge venusta)
Leucauge venusta

The body and leg shapes and the silver, black and yellow markings of Leucauge females make identification of the genus relatively easy. They have two rows of long, slender curved hairs on the femurs of the fourth leg. In most cases the web is slanted rather than vertical and the spider rests in the middle of the web with its underside facing upwards.

Selected species

The World Spider Catalog accepted 167 species in the genus as of August 2020.[5] This number includes:

Name

Greek λευκός (leukos) means "white", while αὐγή (augḗ) means "dawn," so called because Leucauge spiders build their first web before dawn.[7]

References
  1. Ballesteros, Jesús; Hormiga, Gustavo (2021). "Molecular phylogeny of the orb-weaving spider genus Leucauge and the intergeneric relationships of Leucauginae (Araneae, Tetragnathidae)". Invertebrate Systematics. 35 (8): 922–939. doi:10.1071/IS21029. S2CID 244162090.
  2. Levi, Herbert Walter (1980). "The orb-weaver genus Mecynogea, the subfamily Metinae and the genera Pachygnatha, Glenognatha and Azilia of the subfamily Tetragnathinae north of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 149: 1–74.
  3. Friedman, Danny. "A Tangled Web" (PDF). George Washington University. GW Research. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  4. Ballesteros, Jesús A.; Hormiga, Gustavo (2018). "Species delimitation of the North American orchard-spider Leucauge venusta (Walckenaer, 1841) (Araneae, Tetragnathidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 121: 183–197. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.01.002. PMID 29337274.
  5. "Leucauge". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  6. Ashmole, P. & Ashmole, M. 2000. St Helena and Ascension Island: a natural history. Anthony Nelson, Oswestry. 492p.ISBN 0 904614 61 1.
  7. Hénaut, Yann; José Alvaro García-Ballinas; Claude Alauzet (2006). "Variations in Web Construction in Leucauge venusta (Araneae, Tetragnathidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 34 (1): 234–240. doi:10.1636/S02-65.1. JSTOR 4489063. S2CID 84689556 – via JSTOR.

Further reading
  • "Riparian insects and the diet of the riparian spider Leucauge celebisiana (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)". PDF
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