Family: Pholcidae
 Crossopriza
lyoni Blackwall, 1867
Family: Pholcidae
Size: 7-9 mm
Distribution: Tropics.
Habitat: Inside houses.
Carapace is circular with the eyes slightly raised and projecting
forwards and with an yellow-brown median stripe. The abdomen is
short and oval with its position indented into a slightly projecting
rounded hump. Crossopriza has a box-like side view. There are some
black and yellow patches in the yellowish brown abdomen. The legs
are spotted and streaked with black.
 Smeringopus
pallidus Blackwall, 1858
Family: Pholcidae
Size: 7-9 mm
Distribution: Cosmopolitan
Habitat: Dusty and dark corners of the house, under-covered
drains, on mud walls in gardens and countryside.
Carapace is circular and wider than long. The 8 eyes are arranged
in a typical pholcid fashion. The abdomen is elongated, oval and
three times as long as the carapace. There is a very marked pattern
consisting of three wide, longitudinal, broken bands of brown patches
on a light brown background. The legs are long and uniformly brown
except for white annulations near the joints.
Family: Pisauridae
 Pisaura
putiana Barrion & Litsinger, 1995
Family: Pisauridae
Size: 10-14 mm
Distribution: India, Philippines
Habitat: Moist Deciduous forests
These are commonly found near water bodies. There is a brown median
band on the carapace with a thin white border. There is a thin white
median stripe on the cephalus with light brown lateral bands. There
is a wide median longitudinal brown band on the abdomen with two,
thin, slightly wavy white lines towards the middle. The sides of
the abdomen are white in colour.
 Thalassius
albocinctus Doleschall, 1859
Family: Pisauridae
Size: 8-10mm
Distribution: India: Kerala; Myanmar, Philippines,
Singapore
Habitat: Moist Deciduous forests
These are commonly called fishing spiders because of their habit
of catching small fish. The spider is very beautiful in appearance
and can be easily distinguished by the presence of black, glossy,
broad median band bordered by white lateral band on cephalothorax
and abdomen. The legs are long and yellowish brown. It is found
near water usually near small rivulets in forest. In Kerala this
species is found in Bhoothathankettu and Edamalyar regions of Ernakulam
district. The spider has the habit of resting on the upper surface
of broad leaves with legs arranged in pairs of two. Spider put its
forelegs immersed in water, when any fish arrives near it, its vibration
are detected by the spider, which then dashes into the water to
catch the fish. Thalassius is a tropical genus and ranges from Africa
to southern China and Sulavesi.
Family: Psechridae
 Psechrus
alticeps Pocock, 1899
Family: Psechridae
Size: 24mm
Distribution: India: Kerala
Habitat: Moist Deciduous forests
These are cribellate spiders and has cribellum on the under surface
of its abdomen near spinnerets. Cribellum produces a sticky silk
and are kneaded by another structure called calamistrum found in
these spiders. Psechrus alticeps is a large spider that is very
common in the forests of Kerala. They spin their webs usually in
the bottom of tall forest trees, preferably in hollow found at the
bottom of these trees. Spiders remain upside down in its web and
on slight disturbance its escapes into safe retreat. Webs are horizontal
and consist of two layers usually and are messed up with remains
of prey and other debris. The cephalothorax is brownish yellow in
colour with two dark brown longitudinal bands about middle and a
dark brown longitudinal band on lateral margin. Abdomen has dark
mottled pattern, on light background. On the under surface, abdomen
has a median longitudinal white line sometimes bordered by two lateral
lines also. Psechrus spiders range from Himalayas and southern china
in north to Sri Lanka and Philippines in the south.
Family: Salticidae
 Hasarius
adansoni (Audouin, 1826)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 6-8 mm
Distribution: Cosmopolitan
Habitat: Tree trunks, walls of buildings
This is a dull coloured spider. The cephalothorax is thick and
"U" shaped. Abdomen is broad and oval, rounded at the
front and very slightly tapering to the rear. Legs are long and
moderately spiny. The dark brown eye area is bordered by a light
crescent-shaped area carrying white hairs. There is white crescent-shaped
collar around the shoulders. There are two white spots on the abdomen.
 Menemerus
bivittatus (Dufour, 1831)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 7-10 mm
Distribution: Cosmopolitan
Habitat: Tree trunks, walls of buildings, and other
man-made structures.
This is also a common house spider. The eye field is black and
the carapace is brown with a characteristic white marginal band.
The abdomen is whitish brown with a broad dark brown median band
along the entire length. Legs are whitish brown with some light
brown patches and rings. This spider has cosmopolitan distribution.
 Myrmarachne
plataleoides (O. P.-Cambridge, 1869)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 6-7mm
Distribution: India: Kerala; Sri Lanka, China
Habitat: Near to the colonies of red tree ants
in trees
This is a perfect mimic of red tree ant Oecophylla smaragdina.
There is complete copying of external features and colours of ant.
To this passive mimicry a close imitation of general movements of
the ant are also observed. Front legs are usually kept raised, bent
in the middle and move like the antennae of an ant. Spiders are
usually observed near ants' nest. Observation of Mathew (1935) showed
that M. plateleoides does not feed on adult ants, but only on the
larvae and pupae of these ants.
 Phintella
vittata (C. L. Koch, 1846)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 9-11mm
Distribution: Kerala, Sikkim, India to Philippines,
Singapore, Malaysia, Southern china,
Habitat: Foliage of garden plants and also in forest
plants.
This is a colourful salticid found on leaves of shrubs. Cephalothorax
is high; cephalus flat and thorax sloping. Sides are more or less
vertical. The abdomen is oval and whitish anteriorly and narrowing
to a rounder posterior. Front legs of the male are stronger and
longer than others. Body is covered with dense bluish white iridescent
sqamose hairs. Ventral side of the abdomen is whitish grey with
two pairs of broad, elongated, transverse black bands along the
sides. There is a semicircular black region near the spinnerets.
The electric blue and black appearance of this spider in the field
is most striking.
 Plexippus
paykulli (Savingyny & Audouin, 1825)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 7-9mm
Distribution: Throughout tropics
Habitat: Tree trunks, walls of buildings
This is one of the best known spiders all over tropics just like
Heteropoda venatoria. It can be found moving over the walls in our
house quite frequently. Male is characterised by the presence of
median white band on cephalothorax and abdomen, both bordered by
black lateral bands. Female is dull brown coloured with two white
spots on the abdomen. Unlike other families, spiders of the family
Salticidae do not spin web for prey capture. They use silk only
for producing egg case and nest. They are highly agile jumpers and
jump many times their body length in a single jump.
 Plexippus
petersi (Karsch, 1878)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 7-10mm
Distribution: Throughout tropics
Habitat: Tree trunks, walls of buildings
It can be found moving over the walls in our house quite frequently.
Male is characterised by the presence of incomplete white bands
on cephalothorax and abdomen unlike P. paykulli. Female is dull
brown coloured with two white spots on the abdomen. Unlike other
families, spiders of the family Salticidae do not spin web for prey
capture. They use silk only for producing egg case and nest. They
are highly agile jumpers and jump many times their body length in
a single jump.
 Portia
fimbriata (Doleschall, 1859)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 7-10mm
Distribution: Throughout tropics
Habitat: Tree trunks, waste lands, dry leaves.
Cephalothorax is high with the rear eyes located nearby. The plane
of the cephalic part slopes gently from the highest point to the
front eyes and the thorax curves fairly steeply to the posterior
edge. Carapace is broad but longer than wide, orange brown in colour
covered with brown black hairs and has a wedge shaped white band
running from the fovea to the rear edge and broad, white marginal
bands. From the front it has a characteristic broad white moustache
and exceedingly hairy light brown and white palps. Above the front
median eyes, there appear to be two horns giving the spider a thoroughly
demonic appearance. The abdomen is oval, slightly rounded at the
front and pointed at the rear. It is brownish with lighter markings
and brown hairs. There are a number of characteristic tufts of erect
long orange white hairs. Most notable feature of the leg is the
contrast between the exceeding long haired upper segments and the
very thin tarsi and metatarsi. Sometimes found in irregular webs
or webs of other spiders.
 Telamonia
dimidiata (Simon, 1899)
Family: Salticidae
Size: 9-11mm
Distribution: Kerala, Gujarat, Bhutan, Sumatra,
Singapore
Habitat: Common in the leaves of garden plants,
and in forest herbs.
Though Tikader has identified this species has Phidippus pateli,
it is in fact Telamonia dimidata described by Simon. This is a common
spider in the leaves of garden plants. Female is pale yellowish
coloured with two reddish brown longitudinal bands on the abdomen,
whereas male is characterised by a median white band on the abdomen
bordered by black lateral bands and cephalothorax has white median
central spots and lateral white bands. It makes its nest among leaves.
This species is common in all the districts of Kerala.
 Thiania
bhamoensis Thorell, 1887
Family: Salticidae
Size: 5-7mm
Distribution: India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Myanmar.
Habitat: Common in the leaves of garden plants,
and in forest herbs.
These spiders are commonly seen on leaves. The cephalothorax is
flat and longer than broad. The abdomen is elongated, rounded at
the front end and converging steadily to the spinnerets. Cephalothorax
is black or dark colour and followed by a broad, crescent-shaped
band of iridescent, bronze-coloured, squamose hairs. First pair
of legs are slightly swollen and larger than others. Thiania is
distributed throughout the South-East Asia.
Family: Scytodidae
 Scytodes
sp.
Family: Scytodidae
Size: 5-7 mm
Distribution: India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia,
Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, northern Australia, southern Japan.
Habitat: Dry, dusty and sheltered corners of wooden
houses.
These spiders are characterized by six eyes arrange in three compact
pairs located at the corners of an equilateral triangle. The anterior
median pair is near to the clypeus, with the other two pairs of
smaller eyes behind. The cephalothorax is dome shaped with the highest
point well behind the middle and narrowish towards front. The abdomen
is oval shaped about as long and as wide as carapace. Their long
legs are 2-3 times the length of the spider. The spider is dark-brown
in colour. Legs are annulated.
Family: Sicariidae
 Loxosceles
sp.
Family: Sicariidae
Size: 4-6 mm
Distribution: Cosmopolitan.
Habitat: Room corners, book shelves, switchboxes,
mail boxes.
These are flat-bodied spiders with a circular carapace drawn out
to a rounded, narrowish projection at the front. The six eyes are
arranged in three compact pairs. The abdomen is uniform, oval and
longer than carapace. The carapace is creamy with greyish dark abdomen.
The legs are long and slender being 2-3 times longer than the body
of the spider. The eyes are very bright.
Family: Sparassidae
 Heteropoda
venatoria Linnaeus, 1767
Family: Sparassidae
Size: 2.2 to 2.8 cm
Distribution: All over India, Pantropical
Habitat: In warm weather, it may be found in and about human habitations;
in cold weather it will be found indoors, under furniture or cabinets,
behind wall hangings, and in closets and garages.
The huntsman spider, Heteropoda venatoria (L.), sometimes called
the giant crab spider or the banana spider (due to its occasional
appearance in marketed bananas), is a cosmotropical species introduced
into most countries by man. It is presumed to have been introduced
from Asia, where many of its closest relatives live. Heteropoda
venatoria is a large brown spider with a flattened body structure.
Both sexes have a yellow to cream clypeus and a wide marginal band
encircling the rest of the carapace, chocolate in females and cream
in males. Males have distinct black lateral patches on carapace.
Females of H. venatoria make flattened, disc-like egg sacs about
1.5 cm in diameter which contain over 200 eggs. This and similar
species are highly valued in tropical countries because they capture
and feed on cockroaches and other domestic insect pests. The flattened
body enables this large spider to fit into surprisingly small cracks
and crevices. This ability, along with its adaptability to human
habitations, helps explain its frequent occurrence in houses, barns,
sheds, under boards on the ground, and in other sheltered areas.
Being cold-sensitive, these spiders cannot exist outdoors in areas
with freezing winter temperatures. It is not a dangerous spider,
but a locally painful bite can be delivered to any human who carelessly
handles a huntsman spider.
 Olios
milleti Pocock, 1901
Family: Sparassidae
Size: 13-17 mm
Distribution: Tropics and subtropics
Habitat: Foliage in garden.
These spiders are green in colour and are found among foliage.
There is an hourglass shaped red mark on the ventral side of the
abdomen. The cephalothorax is wider than long. These spiders are
smaller than H. venetoria.
Page
1 - Page 2 - Page
3 |
