Trachelidae Orthobula

Orthobula sp. "Creamy"

Creamy Orthobula

Spiders of the genus Orthobula are different from other Singapore trachelids by having no obvious cuspules on the legs, and by the presence of several pairs of strong ventral spines on the tibiae and metatarsi of legs I and II. Such paired spines can also be found in some liocranids such as Oedignatha and Teutamus as well as corinnids such as Medmassa. Orthobula can be differentiated from these non-trachelid genera by their smaller size (2–5 mm), their short, rounded and markedly patterned abdomen, and by the structures of their genitalia.

The abdomen of the Orthobula species found in Singapore has a distinctive colour pattern that is similar to O. spiniformis Tso, Zhu, Zhang & Zhang, 2005, described from Taiwan. If they are not the same species, then they must be closely related.