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Araneidae Talthybia

Talthybia depressa Thorell, 1898

Wrap-around Orb Weaver

This spider is remarkably well-camouflaged in the day when it sits motionlessly with its seemingly lichen-covered bark-like body and legs hugging tightly to a twig.

The species is recognised by a low carapace with a pair of lateral tubercles under which the lateral eyes are located. The wide and flattish abdomen is pleated laterally. The dorsum is armed with three conical tubercles with the median tubercle sitting on a low peak. However, in some specimens, the area is enlarged and protrudes dorsally with the median tubercle sitting on the roof of an elevated cylindrical knob.

Length♀ 17–19 mm; ♂ 12 mm.
HabitatSecondary and primary lowland dipterocarp forests.
BiologyAt night, it sits, with its legs outstretched, on an orb web with an off-centre hub. which appears to function as a vertically elongated "ladder web".
Type LocalityMyanmar.
DistributionSingapore, Malaysia (Sabah), Brunei, Myanmar, Philippines, China.

Taxonomy

Type Depositories

  1. Holotype

    Museo Civico Storia Naturale G. Doria, Genova (MCSNG), Italy; Juvenile (Han, Zhu & Levi, 2009)

Taxonomic references

  1. Talthybia depressa (Original description j)

    Thorell, 1898 Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine: 377

  2. Talthybia depressa (Original description ♀)

    Han, Zhu & Levi, 2009 On two rare south-east Asian araneid genera: Deione and Talthybia (Araneae: Araneidae): 59, f. 17, 19, 21-28 doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2297.1.5

  3. Talthybia depressa (♀)

    Mohagan et al., 2020 New record of Talthybia depressa (Araneae: Araneidae) from the Philippines: 524, f. 2A-E, 3.1-2

  4. Talthybia depressa (Original description ♂, ♀)

    Mi, Wang & Li, 2024 Description of six new genera and twenty species of the orb-weaver spider family Araneidae (Araneae, Araneoidea) from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China: 321, f. 40A-L, 41A-D, 42A-E doi:10.24272/j.issn.2097-3772.2024.023

Distribution of Talthybia depressa Thorell, 1898

Singapore, Malaysia (Sabah), Brunei, Myanmar, Philippines, China.

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