Paidiscura Explained

Paidiscura is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Allan Frost Archer in 1950.^[1]

Species

it contains four species, found in Asia, Africa, and Europe:^[2]

• Paidiscura dromedaria (Simon, 1880) – Cape Verde Is., Spain, France, Italy, Greece, North Africa to Middle East
• Paidiscura orotavensis (Schmidt, 1968) – Canary Is., Madeira
• Paidiscura pallens (Blackwall, 1834) (type) – Europe, Algeria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia (Europe to South Siberia)
• Paidiscura subpallens (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) – China, Korea, Japan

Formerly included:

• P. genistae (Simon, 1873) (Transferred to Theridion)
• P. genistae (Charitonov, 1946) (Transferred to Theridion)
• P. musiva (Simon, 1873) (Transferred to Ruborridion)
• P. pinicola (Simon, 1873) (Transferred to Theridion)

In synonymy:

• P. bigibba (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1912) = Paidiscura dromedaria (Simon, 1880)
• P. caboverdensis (Schmidt & Piepho, 1994) = Paidiscura dromedaria (Simon, 1880)
• P. caninotata (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) = Paidiscura subpallens (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906)
• P. mirabilis (Zhu, Zhang & Xu, 1991) = Paidiscura subpallens (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906)
• P. palustre ) = Paidiscura dromedaria (Simon, 1880)

See also

• List of Theridiidae species

Further reading

• Knoflach. B.. Thaler. K.. 2000. Notes on Mediterranean Theridiidae (Araneae) - I. Memorie della Società Entomologica Italiana. 411–442. 78.
• Book: Wunderlich, J.. 1987. Die Spinnen der Kanarischen Inseln und Madeiras: Adaptive Radiation, Biogeographie, Revisionen und Neubeschreibungen. Triops, Langen. 435.
• Le Peru. B.. 2011. The spiders of Europe, a synthesis of data: Volume 1 Atypidae to Theridiidae. Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon. 1–522. 2.
• Wunderlich. J.. 2008. On extant and fossil (Eocene) European comb-footed spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae), with notes on their subfamilies, and with descriptions of new taxa. Beiträge zur Araneologie. 819–859. 5.
• Book: Song. D. X.. Zhu. M. S.. Chen. J.. 1999. The spiders of China. Hebei Science and Technology Publishing House, Shijiazhuang. 640.

Notes and References

1. Archer. A. F.. 1950. A study of theridiid and mimetid spiders with descriptions of new genera and species. Museum Paper, Alabama Museum of Natural History. 1–40. 30. Allan_Frost_Archer.
2. Gen. Paidiscura Archer, 1950. World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. 2020-06-30. 2020. Natural History Museum Bern. 10.24436/2.