Pop-eyed Big-jawed Spider
The PLE of both sexes are mounted on prominent tubercles, a feature that easily distinguishes this species. The carapace and chelicerae are almost black, while the abdomen is brown with many white spots.
| Length | ♀ 7–12 mm; ♂ 6–7 mm, excluding chelicerae. |
| Habitat | Edges of streams, ponds, reservoirs and mangroves. |
| Type Locality | Sri Lanka. |
| Distribution | Widespread, including China, Maldives, Seychelles, South Africa, Mozambique, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore. |
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Meta gracilis (Original description ♀; preoccupied in Tetragnatha by Lucas 1838, see Tetragnatha nitens)
Stoliczka, 1869 Contribution towards the knowledge of Indian Arachnoidea: 244, pl. 19, f. 2
Tetragnatha ceylonica (Original description ♂♀)
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869b Catalogue of a collection of Ceylon Araneida lately received from Mr J: 394, pl. 13, f. 83-88 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1869.tb00667.x
Tetragnatha latifrons (Original description ♂♀)
Tetragnatha fronto (Original description ♀)
Tetragnatha tridens (Original description ♂)
Thorell, 1898 Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine: 328
Tetragnatha gracilis (Original description ♂♀)
Pocock, 1900a The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Arachnida: 214 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.48423
Tetragnatha gracilis
Tetragnatha modesta (Original description ♀)
Hirst, 1911 The Araneae, Opiliones and Pseudoscorpiones: 385, f. 2 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1911.tb00535.x
Tetragnatha eitapensis (Original description ♂)
Strand, 1913d Neue indoaustralische und polynesische Spinnen des Senckenbergischen Museums: 115
Tetragnatha eitapensis (♂)
Strand, 1915d Indoaustralische, papuanische und polynesische Spinnen des Senckenbergischen Museums, gesammelt von Dr E: 196, pl. 15, f. 40
Tetragnatha gracilis (♂♀)
Gravely, 1921b Some Indian spiders of the subfamily Tetragnathinae: 427, 436, f. 1
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Okuma, 1968b Preliminary survey on the spider-fauna of the paddy fields in Thailand: 99, f. 2A-F
Tetragnatha eitapensis (♂)
Chrysanthus, 1975 Further notes on the spiders of New Guinea II (Araneae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae): 6, f. 4-7
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Okuma, 1976 A new record of a Japanese spider-Tetragnatha ceylonica Cambridge: 45, f. 1-9
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Okuma, 1977 A new species of the genus Tetragnatha (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) from the Ryukyus, Japan: 32, f. 10-11 doi:10.2476/asjaa.27.Specialnumber_27
Tetragnatha modesta (Original description ♂)
Benoit, 1978f Contributions à l'étude de la faune terrestre des îles granitiques de l'archipel des Séchelles (Mission P: 666, f. 2A-C
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Yaginuma, 1986a Spiders of Japan in color (new ed: 133, f. 71.4
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀, Synonym of Tetragnatha eitapensis)
Okuma, 1987 A revision of the Australasian species of the genus Tetragnatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae): 48, f. 6A-I
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Okuma & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1988 Tetragnatha (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) in the collection of the Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria with a description of a new species: 227, f. 5A-L
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Okuma, 1988b A revision of the genus Tetragnatha Latreille (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) of Asia, Part I: 170, f. 3A-L
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Okuma et al., 1993 Illustrated Monograph of the Rice Field Spiders of Bangladesh. Institute of Postgraduate Studies in Agriculture (Salna, Gazipur, Bangladesh): 43, f. 39A-G
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 Riceland spiders of South and Southeast Asia: 513, f. 315a-g, 316a-m
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999 The spiders of China: 221, f. 125K, P-S
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Yoo & Kim, 2002a Studies on basic pattern and evolution of male palpal organ (Arachnida: Araneae): 25, f. 14
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Zhu, Song & Zhang, 2003 Fauna Sinica: Invertebrata Vol. 35: Arachnida: Araneae: Tetragnathidae: 125, f. 57A-G, 58A-G
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀, Synonym of Tetragnatha modesta)
Saaristo, 2003 Tetragnathid spiders of Seychelles (Araneae, Tetragnathidae): 23, f. 22, 26
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Tanikawa, 2007c An identification guide to the Japanese spiders of the families Araneidae, Nephilidae and Tetragnathidae: 106, 378-380, 835-838
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Tanikawa, 2009 Hersiliidae: 414, f. 69-72
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Saaristo, 2010 Araneae: 236, f. 26.28, 32
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂)
Sen et al., 2015 Spiders (Araneae: Arachnida) of reserve forests of Dooars: Gorumara National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary and Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary: 99, f. 568-573, pl. 20
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♀)
Basu & Raychaudhuri, 2016 Rice land inhabiting long jawed orb weavers, Tetragnatha Latreille, 1804 (Tetragnathidae: Araneae) of South 24-Parganas, West Bengal, India: 223, f. 31-35, 62-65
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2020t The Tetragnathidae of South Africa: 34, 9 f. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7578068
Tetragnatha ceylonica (♂♀)
Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2023a The Tetragnathidae of South Africa: 37, f. 1-6 doi:10.5281/zenodo.7513261
Widespread, including China, Maldives, Seychelles, South Africa, Mozambique, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore.