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Theridiidae Meotipa

Meotipa pulcherrima (Mello-Leitão, 1917)

Beautiful Blade-haired Triangular Spider

M. pulcherrima may be distinguished from other Meotipa spiders in Singapore by its smaller size and narrower setae which are present on the legs and abdomen in smaller numbers than those seen in other species. The extended tip of the abdomen is decorated with a variable but often elaborate pattern of white, red, and yellow spots, thus inspiring the name "pulcherrima" meaning "most beautiful" in Latin. The species is associated with gardens and may have become widespread through human activities.

Length♀ 3 mm; ♂ 2 mm.
HabitatFoliage in gardens, nature parks and forest fringes.
BiologyThe mother guards the spherical egg sac that is suspended on the underside of foliage.
Type LocalityManguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
DistributionWidespread, including Brazil, China, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, South Africa.

Taxonomy

Type Depositories

  1. Holotype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); Argyrodes pulcherrimus Mello-Leitão, 1917, (00583); 1 ♀ (destroyed by the fire 2018)

Taxonomic references

  1. Argyrodes pulcherrimus (Original description ♀)

    Mello-Leitão, 1917a Notas arachnologicas: 86, f. 7-8

  2. Meotipa clementinae (Original description ♀)

    Petrunkevitch, 1930a The spiders of Porto Rico: 212, f. 61-62

  3. Meotipa clementinae (Original description ♂)

    Schmidt, 1956a Genus- und Speziesdiagnosen neuer, mit Bananen eingeschleppter Spinnen nebst Mitteilung über das Auffinden der Männchen zweier Spinnenarten: 30, f. 6

  4. Meotipa clementinae (♀)

    Schmidt, 1956f Liste der in den Jahren 1953 and 1954 mit Bananen nach Hamburg eingeschleppten Spinnen aus Franz: 240, f. 1

  5. Chrysso clementinae (♂♀)

    Levi, 1962b More American spiders of the genus Chrysso (Araneae, Theridiidae): 231, f. 71-75 doi:10.1155/1962/32404

  6. Chrysso pulcherrima (removed from Synonym of Argyrodes elevatus, rejecting Exline & Levi, 1962: 135, Synonym of Meotipa clementinae)

    Levi, 1967b Habitat observations, records, and new South American theridiid spiders (Araneae, Theridiidae): 26

  7. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Levi, 1967c Cosmopolitan and pantropical species of theridiid spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae): 182, f. 28-31

  8. Chrysso mussau (Original description ♂♀)

    Chrysanthus, 1975 Further notes on the spiders of New Guinea II (Araneae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae): 48, f. 174-177

  9. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Zhu & Zhang, 1992 Notes of some species of Theridiidae in Guangxi (Arachnida: Araneae): 23, f. 3A-D

  10. Chrysso clementinae (♀)

    Müller, 1992 Spiders from Colombia XVI: 99, f. 5-6

  11. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Yoshida, 1993c East Asian species of the genus Chrysso (Araneae: Theridiidae): 30, f. 10-12, 20 doi:10.2476/asjaa.42.27

  12. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Zhu, 1998 Fauna Sinica: Arachnida: Araneae: Theridiidae: 54, f. 28A-D

  13. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 103, f. 50A-B, J

  14. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀, Synonym of Chrysso mussau)

    Yoshida, 2003a The spider family Theridiidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Japan: 126, f. 337, 341-342

  15. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂)

    Seo, 2005a Four species of theridiid spider (Araneae) from Korea with a description of new species, Robertus naejangensis: 123, f. 2A-B doi:10.1111/j.1748-5967.2005.tb00147.x

  16. Meotipa pulcherrima (mf, Transferred from Chrysso)

    Yoshida, 2009b Uloboridae, Theridiidae, Ctenidae: 378, f. 211-213

  17. Meotipa pulcherrima (♀)

    Kim, 2021 Spiders V: 79, f. 32A-F

  18. Meotipa pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2021z The Theridiidae of South Africa. Part 1 A-P: 50, 5 f. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7515890

  19. Meotipa pulcherrima (♀)

    Deng et al., 2022 Meotipa species (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China: 158, f. 2A-H, 9C-D doi:10.3897/zookeys.1082.75400

  20. Meotipa pulcherrima (♀)

    Noguchi et al., 2023 A list of spiders collected from Kyushu University Ito Campus, Fukuoka, Japan: 144, f. 3F

  21. Chrysso pulcherrima (♂♀)

    Baert et al., 2023 Updated checklist, origin, distribution, literature and genital drawings of the spiders of the Galápagos Islands: 30, f. 111A-D

Distribution of Meotipa pulcherrima (Mello-Leitão, 1917)

Widespread, including Brazil, China, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, South Africa.

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