Swordfish Food-stealing Spider
Compared with the Faiditus sp. featured on the previous page, the projecting clypeus of F. xiphias is slightly more pointed and elongated (measured as a proportion of the cephalothorax). Thorell who described the spider must have been struck by such an extraordinary "snout" and named the species after the swordfish ("xiphias" in Latin). In this species, the clypeal projection is densely clad with short hairs on its dorsal tip.
In both sexes, the abdomen is brownish and furnished with a backward-pointing V-shaped band. However, the female abdomen is more rounded, with additional silvery and yellow patches and bears a small dorsal hump with a pair of low tubercles on its sides.
| Length | ♀ 2–3 mm; ♂ 3 mm |
| Distribution | Singapore, Indonesia (Lampung), Myanmar, China, India, Japan. |
| Habitat | In the webs of other spiders such as Acusilas coccineus and Nephila pilipes. |
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Suborder Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
Lectotype
Museo Civico Storia Naturale G. Doria, Genova (MCSNG), Italy; ♂ (Vanuytven, Jocqué & Deeleman-Reinhold, 2024)
Paralectotype
Zoologisches Museum Hamburg (ZMH), Hamburg, Germany (data base search of type material, 11.02.2019); 1♂ 4♀ (A0002360)
Paralectotype
Museo Civico Storia Naturale G. Doria, Genova (MCSNG), Italy; 1♀ (Vanuytven, Jocqué & Deeleman-Reinhold, 2024)
Paralectotype
Swedish Museum of Natural History (Naturhistoriska riksmuseet), Stockholm (NHRS), Sweden; 1♂ (GULI 000105413) (Vanuytven, Jocqué & Deeleman-Reinhold, 2024)
Argyrodes xiphias (Original description ♂♀)
Argyrodes xiphias (♂♀)
Workman, 1896 Malaysian spiders: 62, pl. 62 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.101972
Argyrodes levii (Original description ♂♀)
Zhu & Song, 1991 Notes on the genus Argyrodes from China (Araneae: Theridiidae): 138, f. 10A-D
Argyrodes levii (♂♀)
Song, Zhu & Li, 1993 Arachnida: Araneae: 855, f. 7A-D
Argyrodes xiphias (♂♀, Synonym of Argyrodes carnicobarensis and A. levii; Rhinocosmetus carnicobarensis revalidated by Vanuytven, Jocqué & Deeleman-Rein)
Yoshida, 1993d Notes on Argyrodes xiphias Thorell, 1887 (Araneae: Theridiidae) from South East Asia: 83, f. 1-4 doi:10.2476/asjaa.42.83
Argyrodes xiphias (♂♀)
Zhu, 1998 Fauna Sinica: Arachnida: Araneae: Theridiidae: 218, f. 143A-D
Argyrodes xiphias (♂♀)
Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 103, f. 48A-B, E
Argyrodes xiphias (♀)
Xu, Yin & Kim, 2000 One new species of the genus Argyrodes Simon, 1864 (Araneae: Theridiidae) from China: 87, f. 4-5
Argyrodes xiphias (♂♀)
Yoshida, 2003a The spider family Theridiidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Japan: 144, f. 387-390
Faiditus xiphias (Transferred from Argyrodes)
Agnarsson, 2004 Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae): 479 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00120.x
Faiditus xiphias (♂♀)
Yoshida, 2009b Uloboridae, Theridiidae, Ctenidae: 386, f. 276-278
Faiditus xiphias (♂♀)
Yin et al., 2012 Fauna Hunan: Araneae in Hunan, China: 350, f. 143a-d
Rhinocosmetus xiphias (♂♀, Transferred from Faiditus, Synonym of Faiditus levii confirmed)
Vanuytven, Jocqué & Deeleman-Reinhold, 2024 Two new theridiid genera from Southeast Asia (Araneae: Theridiidae, Argyrodinae): males with a nose for courtship: 60, 89, 90, f. 4D, 5A, 6A, 47A-I, 48A-D, 49, 50A-D
* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.
Singapore, Indonesia (Lampung), Myanmar, China, India, Japan.