No photos available

Scytodidae Scytodes

Scytodes fusca Walckenaer, 1837

Brown Spitting Spider

Of all the Scytodidae in Singapore, this species shows the darkest colouration. It also exhibits a more distinct difference in appearances between males and females than in other species. The male carapace has a more elaborate and contrasting pattern than that of the female. Within the same species, some females are darker and more uniformly coloured than others, further accentuating the difference between the sexes.

Length♀ 5–7 mm; ♂ 5–6 mm
HabitatTree trunks, leaf litter or under logs in secondary forests; neglected corners of houses.
BiologyConstruct a small, irregular, and sparse web extending from a tube-shaped retreat inside crevices.
Type LocalityFrench Guiana
DistributionWidespread, including Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, China, Japan, French Guiana

Taxonomy

Type Deposits*

  1. Holotype

    Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main (SMF), Germany (data base search of type material, 11.01.2019); ♂ (8682-100) of Scytodes torquatus

  2. Holotype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); ♀ (00787, destroyed by the fire 2018) of Scytodes iguassuensis

  3. Holotype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); ♀ (00796, destroyed by the fire 2018) of Scytodes campinensis

  4. Paratype

    Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main (SMF), Germany (data base search of type material, 11.01.2019); 1♂ 1♀  1 Juvenile (8565, 8708, 8709) of Scytodes torquatus

  5. Syntype

    Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil (database excerpt, August 2019); 3♀ (00791, destroyed by the fire 2018) of Scytodes discolor

  6. Syntype

    British Museum of Natural History (BMNH)/Natural History Museum (NHMUK), London, UK; 1 Juvenile♂ 2 Juvenile♀ of Scytodes vittata (Dupérré, 2023a)

Taxonomic references*

  1. Scytodes fusca (Original description ♂♀)

    Walckenaer, 1837 Histoire naturelle des insectes. Aptères. Tome premier: 272 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61095

  2. Scytodes domestica (Original description ♀)

    Doleschall, 1859 Tweede Bijdrage tot de kennis der Arachniden van den Indischen Archipel: 48, pl. 6, f. 1

  3. Scytodes guianensis (Original description ♀)

    Taczanowski, 1872 Les aranéides de la Guyane française: 108

  4. Scytodes vittata (Original description ♀)

    Keyserling, 1877c Amerikanische Spinnenarten aus den Familien der Pholcoidae, Scytodoidae und Dysderoidae: 212, pl. 7, f. 4

  5. Dictis fumida (Original description ♀)

    Thorell, 1891 Spindlar från Nikobarerna och andra delar af södra Asien: 33

  6. Scytodes fusca

    Simon, 1892e On the spiders of the island of St: 571

  7. Dictis domestica (Original description ♂)

    Thorell, 1895b Descriptive catalogue of the spiders of Burma, based upon the collection made by Eugene W. Oates and preserved in the British Museum: 67 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.17492

  8. Scytodes hebraica (♀, D♂)

    F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899a Arachnida - Araneida and Opiliones: 51, pl. 4, f. 3-5

  9. Scytodes domestica (♂♀)

    Kulczyński, 1911b Symbola ad faunam Aranearum Javae et Sumatrae cognoscendam: 457, pl. 21, f. 3-4, 10, 12

  10. Scytodes atrofusca (♀, provisional name)

    Strand, 1916b Systematische-faunistische Studien über paläarktische, afrikanische und amerikanische Spinnen des Senckenbergischen Museums: 95

  11. Scytodes vittata (Original description ♂)

    Mello-Leitão, 1917a Notas arachnologicas: 79, f. 3

  12. Scytodes iguassuensis (Original description ♀)

    Mello-Leitão, 1918c Scytodidas e pholcidas do Brasil: 133

  13. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Petrunkevitch, 1929b The spiders of Porto Rico: 113, f. 97-98

  14. Scytodes nannipes (Original description ♀)

    Chamberlin & Ivie, 1936a New spiders from Mexico and Panama: 8, pl. 1, f. 3

  15. Scytodes fusca

    Lessert, 1939 Araignées du Congo belge (Deuxieme partie): 7

  16. Scytodes velutina (♀, misidentified)

    Millot, 1941 Les araignées de l'Afrique Occidentale Française - sicariides et pholcides: 41, f. 16A-C

  17. Scytodes fusca (Synonym of Scytodes campinensis and S. discolor)

    Mello-Leitão, 1941c Aranhas do Paraná: 236

  18. Scytodes fusca (♀)

    Kaston, 1945b New Micryphantidae and Dictynidae with notes on other spiders: 7, f. 24

  19. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Millot, 1946b Les Scytodes d'Afrique Noire française (Araneae): 157, f. 2A-C, 3B, 4A-B

  20. Scytodes torquatus (Original description ♂♀)

    Kraus, 1955b Spinnen aus El Salvador (Arachnoidea, Araneae): 12, f. 17

  21. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Chrysanthus, 1967b Spiders from south New Guinea IX: 91, f. 6-10

  22. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Brignoli, 1976a Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Scytodidae (Araneae): 175, f. 106-108, 110

  23. Scytodes fusca (♂♀, Synonym of Scytodes bajula, S. hebraica, S. nannipes, S. torquata)

    Valerio, 1981 Spitting spiders (Araneae, Scytodidae, Scytodes) from Central America: 83, f. 1, 10, 19-20

  24. Scytodes torquata

    Brignoli, 1983c A catalogue of the Araneae described between 1940 and 1981: 150

  25. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Wang, Zhang & Li, 1985 New report of some spiders from southern China: 66, f. I

  26. Scytodes fusca (♂)

    Lehtinen, 1986 Evolution of the Scytodoidea: 152, f. 2-3, 6-7

  27. Scytodes fusca (♀)

    Heimer, 1990 Untersuchungen zur Evolution der Kopulationsorgane bei Spinnen (Arachnida, Araneae): 11, f. 28

  28. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Wang, 1994c On five Scytodidae of the genus Scytodes from China: 6, f. 1-3

  29. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 1997c Scytotids [sic] (Arachnida, Araneae, Scytodidae) of the granitic islands of Seychelles: 52, f. 8-12

  30. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 49, f. 19R, 20D

  31. Scytodes fusca (♂♀, Synonym of Scytodes iguassuensis)

    Brescovit & Rheims, 2000 On the synanthropic species of the genus Scytodes Latreille (Araneae, Scytodidae) of Brazil, with synonymies and records of these species in other Neotropical countries: 323, f. 5-8

  32. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Paquin, Dupérré & Labelle, 2008 Introduced spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in an artificial ecosystem in eastern Canada: 219, f. 1A-E

  33. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Ono, 2009a The spiders of Japan with keys to the families and genera and illustrations of the species: 124, f. 8-9

  34. Scytodes fusca (♀)

    Dankittipakul & Singtripop, 2010 The spitting spider family Scytodidae in Thailand, with descriptions of three new Dictis species (Araneae): 136, f. 31-33, 42-43, 56

  35. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Saaristo, 2010 Araneae: 203, f. 28.8-13

  36. Scytodes fusca (♂)

    Ono, 2011b Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) of the Ogasawara Islands, Japan: 444, f. 24-30, 95

  37. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Šestáková et al., 2014 First record of the exotic spitting spider Scytodes fusca (Araneae, Scytodidae) in Central Europe from Germany and Slovakia: 1, f. 1, 2a-c, 3a-d, 4a-b, 5 doi:10.5431/aramit4701

  38. Scytodes fusca (♂, ♀ habitus)

    Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2021u The Scytodidae of South Africa: 16, 4 f. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7157802

  39. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Sampathkumar et al., 2022 The spitting spider, Scytodes fusca Walckenaer (Araneae, Scytodidae): its distribution in South India and natural history notes: 348, f. 1A-D, 2A-D, 3A-B doi:10.5958/0974-4576.2022.00063.9

  40. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Baert et al., 2023 Updated checklist, origin, distribution, literature and genital drawings of the spiders of the Galápagos Islands: 27, f. 95A-C

  41. Scytodes fusca (Synonym of Scytodes vittata)

    Dupérré, 2023a New light on some historical type specimens -in relation to the South American spider (Araneae) fauna-: 201, f. 55A-B, 56A-C doi:10.1080/03014223.2022.2123835

  42. Scytodes fusca (♀)

    Fomichev & Omelko, 2023c New data on the spitting spiders (Araneae: Scytodidae) of Southeast Asia: 979, f. 20-26 doi:10.5281/zenodo.10156248

  43. Scytodes fusca (♂♀)

    Suzuki & Hisasue, 2024b Spiders collected from Chichi-jima Island, the Ogasawara Islands, Japan between 2022 and 2024: 68, f. 1J-K, 2E-F, 8E

  44. Scytodes fusca (♀)

    Sherwood, 2025b Annotated checklist of imported non-native spider (Araneae) taxa recorded in the United Kingdom 1800–2024: 139, f. 13O-P doi:10.15298/arthsel.34.1.10

* Retrieved from the World Spider Catalog.

Distribution Map for Scytodes fusca Walckenaer, 1837

Widespread, including Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, China, Japan, French Guiana

Scroll