Singapore Pitcher-Plant Crab Spider
This species may be identified instantly by its association with pitcher plants, roundish abdomen, and the generally reddish orange colouration of the body and legs. The female is larger; its abdomen is more darkly coloured, almost purplish, and its legs I and II are more spiny and dark brown. The smaller male has a relatively small abdomen covered dorsally with a scutum.
The generic placement of this spider may eventually be changed as the true members of Misumenops are found only in America. It has been suggested that the Southeast Asian "Misumenops" are specialised relatives of Henriksenia.
| Length | ♀ 5–6 mm; ♂ 3 mm |
| Distribution | Singapore, Malaysia (Johor). |
| Habitat | Inside the pitchers of Nepenthes gracilis growing in waterlogged or eroded open scrubland with poor soil nutrients. |
| Biology | It ambushes insects attracted by the sugary liquid secreted by the glands near the "peristome" (rim) of the pitcher. It is able to swim and feed on mosquito and other aquatic larvae at the bottom of the pitcher. The spider is extremely sensitive to movement and reacts by drop off promptly from its perch at the rim and inner wall of the pitcher and dive into the submerged neck of the pitcher. The ventral side of the abdomen has a shallow hollow covered with hairs and within which are trapped tiny bubbles of air. This allows the spider to remain submerged for up to 30 to 40 minutes without drowning. Their egg sacs are attached on the dry zone of the interior wall of the pitcher. |
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Suborder Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
Lectotype
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France; ♂ (Striffler & Rembold, 2009)
Paralectotype
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France; 3♀ 8 Juvenile (Striffler & Rembold, 2009)
Misumenops nepenthicola (Original description ♂♀)
Fage, 1928 Araneae: 13, f. 1-4
Misumenops nepenthicola (presumably belongs to Henriksenia, not conspecific with Bristowe's nepenthicola)
Lehtinen, 2004 Taxonomic notes on the Misumenini (Araneae: Thomisidae: Thomisinae), primarily from the Palaearctic and Oriental regions: 167
Henriksenia nepenthicola (Transferred from Misumenops, authorship of Fage determined)
* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.
Singapore, Malaysia (Johor).