Ceylon Bird-Dropping Spider
Legs I and II of this Phrynarachne are contrastingly coloured in black and yellow, with long spines on the tibiae and metatarsi. White hairs forming distinct streaks run towards from the margins of the olive-brown carapace towards the centre. Mounted on the rear of the abdomen, above the spinnerets, are several fleshy-looking nodules, some yellow and a few dark brown.
| Length | ♀ 9 mm; ♂ 2 mm |
| Distribution | Singapore, Malaysia (Pahang), Sri Lanka, India, China, Japan. |
| Habitat | Foliage of trees and shrubs on forest edges. |
| Biology | The mother habitually sits on the upper surface of leaves over a mat of silk. Spiderlings hatch in a retreat, built by the mother, with a roof with radiating bands of thickened silk on the underside of a leaf. |
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Suborder Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
Syntype
Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) = Hope Entomological Collections Oxford (HECO), Oxford, UK; 2♀ (Lin et al., 2022b)
Syntype
Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) = Hope Entomological Collections Oxford (HECO), Oxford, UK; 2♂ of Phrynarachne nigra (Lin et al., 2022b)
Ornithoscatoides nigra (Original description ♂)
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1884a On two new genera of spiders: 202, pl. 15, f. 4 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1884.tb02819.x
Phrynarachne ceylonica
Thorell, 1891 Spindlar från Nikobarerna och andra delar af södra Asien: 97
Phrynarachne nigra
Simon, 1895a Histoire naturelle des araignées. Deuxième édition, tome premier: 1045 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51973
Phrynarachne ceylonica (mf, Synonym of Phrynarachne nigra)
Ono, 1988c A revisional study of the spider family Thomisidae (Arachnida, Araneae) of Japan: 25, f. 11-17
Phrynarachne ceylonica (♂♀)
Zhu & Song, 2006 A new discovery of the male spider and a new record from China (Araneae, Thomisidae): 549, f. 1-5
Phrynarachne ceylonica (♂♀)
Ono, 2009a The spiders of Japan with keys to the families and genera and illustrations of the species: 504, f. 50-55
Phrynarachne ceylonica (♀)
Das, Kalita & Mahanta, 2019 New report of Phrynarachne ceylonica (O: 986, f. 1A-B, 2-7
Phrynarachne ceylonica (♀)
Dash & Sivaperuman, 2021a Notes on the presence of Phrynarachne ceylonica (O: 50, f. 2a-d, 3a-b
* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.
Singapore, Malaysia (Pahang), Sri Lanka, India, China, Japan.