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Pholcidae Artema

Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837

Giant Daddy-long-legs

This is the largest pholcid occurring in Singapore but is now rare. It has eight eyes in two rows. Both sexes have a broad carapace with a dark mark surrounding the fovea. which is a deep circular pit. The abdomen is spherical or oval, with a light-coloured folium on the dorsum, and has a series of paired black spots or bands on each side. Compared with other pholcids, Artema has longer hairs covering the abdomen and femora.

Apart from its size, A. atlanta differ from pholcids in several aspects that are not visible in the photos here. First, the sternum extends posteriorly, within the narrow space between the posterior pair of coxae, Second, mature males have a remarkably massive black and downward-pointing tooth-like structure on the outer edge of the front of each chelicera.

Photo credit (all images):

Length♀ 8–10 mm; ♂ 8–11 mm
DistributionPantropical, including Singapore, Brazil.
HabitatDark and humid basements or similar locations.

Taxonomy

Type Deposits*

  1. Holotype

    Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMB), Germany (database export of type material, March 2019); ♀ (2566) of Pholcus rotundatus

  2. Paratype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 1♀ of Tibiosa coreana (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

  3. Syntype

    Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola (MIZA), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela; 10♂ 12♀ 10j (105732 = MAGS 1440) of Coroia magna (Huber & Villarreal, 2020)

Taxonomic references*

  1. Artema mauriciana (Original description ♂♀)

    Walckenaer, 1837 Histoire naturelle des insectes. Aptères. Tome premier: 657, pl. 15, f. 1 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61095

  2. Pholcus sisyphoides (Original description )

    Doleschall, 1857 Bijdrage tot de kennis der Arachniden van den Indischen Archipel: 408 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.66068

  3. Artema convexa (Original description j)

    Blackwall, 1858b Characters of a new genus and description of three recently discovered species of Araneida: 332 doi:10.1080/00222935808697040

  4. Artema mauricia (Original description ♂)

    Vinson, 1863 Aranéides des îles de La Réunion, Maurice et Madagascar: 141, 307 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.125517

  5. Artema convexa (Original description ♀)

    Blackwall, 1866 A list of spiders captured in the south-east region of equatorial Africa, with descriptions of such species as appear to be new to arachnologists: 459 doi:10.1080/00222936608679683

  6. Pholcus rotundatus (Original description ♀)

    Karsch, 1879h Sieben neue Arachniden von St: 106

  7. Artema mauricia

    Simon, 1885h Matériaux pour servir à la faune arachnologiques de l'Asie méridionale: 19

  8. Artema sisyphoides

    Karsch, 1892 Arachniden von Ceylon und von Minikoy gesammelt von den Herren Doctoren P: 276

  9. Artema mauricia (♂♀)

    Simon, 1893a Histoire naturelle des araignées. Deuxième édition, tome premier: 463, f. 441, 451-454 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51973

  10. Artema atlanta (Original description ♀)

    Pocock, 1900a The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Arachnida: 239, f. 81 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.48423

  11. Artema mauriciana (♀)

    Kulczyński, 1901a Arachnoidea in Colonia Erythraea a Dre K: 20, pl. 1, f. 15

  12. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902a Arachnida - Araneida and Opiliones: 366, pl. 34, f. 15-16

  13. Artema mauriciana (♀)

    Tullgren, 1910 Araneae: 119, pl. 2, f. 35 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.6622

  14. Crossopriza sex-signata (Original description ♂♀)

    Franganillo, 1926a Arácnidos nuevos o poco conocidos de la Isla de Cuba: 49

  15. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Petrunkevitch, 1929b The spiders of Porto Rico: 119, f. 102-104

  16. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Dyal, 1935 Fauna of Lahore: 170, pl. 15, f. 97-103

  17. Artema mauriciana (♂, Synonym of Artema kochi and A. sisyphoides; Synonym of A. kochi rejected by Aharon, Huber & Gavish-Regev, 2017: 26; other figs. s)

    Millot, 1941 Les araignées de l'Afrique Occidentale Française - sicariides et pholcides: 3, f. 1F

  18. Artema mauriciana (♀)

    Millot, 1946a Les pholcides de Madagascar (Aranéides): 129, f. 1

  19. Artema atlanta (Synonym of Artema mauriciana)

    Caporiacco, 1948a Arachnida of British Guiana collected in 1931 and 1936 by Professors Beccari and Romiti: 626 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1948.tb00402.x

  20. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Chrysanthus, 1967b Spiders from south New Guinea IX: 92, f. 15-19

  21. Artema atlanta (♀)

    Tikader & Biswas, 1981 Spider fauna of Calcutta and vicinity: Part-I: 18, f. 12

  22. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Brignoli, 1981c Studies on the Pholcidae, I: 92, f. 1-7

  23. Artema atlanta (Synonym of Crossopriza sexsignata)

    Pérez, 1996 Sobre la ausencia del género Crossopriza (Araneae: Pholcidae) en Cuba, con una nueva sinonimia para Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837: 432

  24. Artema atlanta (♂)

    Huber, 2000 New World pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): A revision at generic level: 12, f. 12-13, 48, 56-57, 99, 121, 145, 169, 195 doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2000)254<0001:NWPSAP>2.0.CO;2

  25. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Van Keer & Van Keer, 2001 Ingeburgerde exotische trilspinnen (Araneae: Pholcidae) in Antwerpse haven en enkele algemene bedenkingen bij spinnenmigratie: 83, f. 1.1-7

  26. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2001b Pholcid spiders of the granitic Seychelles (Araneae, Pholcidae): 15, f. 16-22

  27. Artema atlanta (♂)

    Lee, 2005 An imported pholcid in Felixstowe: 7, f. a-d

  28. Coroia magna (Original description ♂♀)

    González-Sponga, 2005 Arácnidos de Venezuela: 102, pl. 2, f. 1-11

  29. Tibiosa coreana (♀; misidentified per Huber, 2009a: 65)

    González-Sponga, 2006 Arácnidos de Venezuela: 17, pl. 3, f. 8-9

  30. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Beatty, Berry & Huber, 2008 The pholcid spiders of Micronesia and Polynesia (Araneae, Pholcidae): 3, f. 15-16, 42-43 doi:10.1636/H05-66.1

  31. Artema atlanta (♂)

    Colmenares-García, 2008 Tres nuevos registros para la araneofauna Venezolana (Arachnida, Araneae, Pholcidae): 87, f. 1A-C

  32. Artema atlanta (♀)

    Irie, 2009 Pholcidae: 106, f. 1-2

  33. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2010 Araneae: 159, f. 25.1-5

  34. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Gao & Li, 2010b Artema atlanta, a pantropical species new for China (Araneae, Pholcidae): 11, f. 1A-D, 2A-D, 3A-C

  35. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Le Peru, 2011 The spiders of Europe, a synthesis of data: Volume 1 Atypidae to Theridiidae: 152, f. 179

  36. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Tong, 2013 Haplogynae spiders from Hainan, China: 55, f. 71A-D, 72A-D, 73A-C

  37. Artema atlanta (Synonym of Coroia magna)

    Huber, Colmenares & Ramírez, 2014 Fourteen new generic and ten new specific synonymies in Pholcidae (Araneae), and transfer of Mystes Bristowe to Filistatidae: 417 doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3847.3.5

  38. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Aharon, Huber & Gavish-Regev, 2017 Daddy-long-leg giants: revision of the spider genus Artema Walckenaer, 1837 (Araneae, Pholcidae): 8, f. 3, 15-34, 201, 208 doi:10.5852/ejt.2017.376

  39. Artema atlanta (♂♀)

    Al-Abbad, Al-Mayah & Al-Abody, 2019 First record of the spider Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837 (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Iraq, with references to some its biological aspects: 499, f. 2a-d, 3a-e, 4a-b, 5a-b doi:10.12692/ijb/14.2.498-502

* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.

Distribution Map for Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837

Pantropical, including Singapore, Brazil.

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