Pandercetes

Pandercetes
Pandercetes cf. celatus from the Western Ghats showing typical cryptic patterning
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Sparassidae
Genus:	Pandercetes L. Koch, 1875[1]
Type species
P. gracilis L. Koch, 1875
Species
16, see text

Pandercetes is a genus of huntsman spiders that was first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in his 1875 treatise on Australian spiders.[2] They are mainly distributed in tropical Asia and Australia, and are known for their cryptic coloration that matches local moss and lichen. Their legs have lateral hairs, giving them a feathery appearance, further masking their outline against tree trunks. Their head is somewhat elevated and the carapace has the thoracic region low and flat.[3]

The genus is characterized by the internal anatomy of the reproductive structures. Males have irregular coils at the terminal end, while females have screw like copulatory ducts.[4]

Species

Showing moss-like appearance and the head elevated above the plane of the cephalothorax

As of October 2019^[update] it contains sixteen species and one subspecies, found in tropical forests in Asia, extending east to Australia:[1]

• Pandercetes celatus Pocock, 1899 – India
• Pandercetes celebensis Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
  • Pandercetes c. vulcanicola Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
• Pandercetes decipiens Pocock, 1899 – India, Sri Lanka
• Pandercetes gracilis L. Koch, 1875 (type) – Indonesia (Moluccas, Sulawesi), New Guinea, Australia (Queensland)
• Pandercetes isopus Thorell, 1881 – Indonesia (Moluccas), New Guinea
• Pandercetes longipes Thorell, 1881 – Papua New Guinea (Yule Is.)
• Pandercetes macilentus Thorell, 1895 – Myanmar
• Pandercetes malleator Thorell, 1890 – Malaysia, Indonesia (Aru Is.)
• Pandercetes manoius Roewer, 1938 – New Guinea
• Pandercetes niger Merian, 1911 – Indonesia (Sulawesi)
• Pandercetes nigrogularis (Simon, 1897) – Indonesia (Java)
• Pandercetes ochreus Hogg, 1922 – Vietnam
• Pandercetes palliventris Strand, 1911 – New Guinea
• Pandercetes peronianus (Walckenaer, 1837) – New Zealand
• Pandercetes plumipes (Doleschall, 1859) – Sri Lanka, Indonesia (Ambon), New Guinea
• Pandercetes plumosus Pocock, 1899 – Papua New Guinea (New Britain)

See also

• List of Sparassidae species

References

1. "Gen. Pandercetes L. Koch, 1875". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2019. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
2. Koch, L. (1875). Die Arachniden Australiens. Nürnberg 1. pp. 577–740.
3. Pocock, R.I. (1909). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Arachnida. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 259–265.
4. Jäger, Peter (2002). "Heteropodinae: Transfers and Synonymies (Arachnida: Araneae : Sparassidae)" (PDF). Acta Arachnologica. 51 (1): 33–61. doi:10.2476/asjaa.51.33.

External links

• Atlas of Living Australia