Spiny Orb-Weaver Spiders Poisonous and Do They Bite?
Gasteracantha is a group of orb-weaver spiders that was first named by Carl Jakob Sundevall in the 19th century.The females of most species are brightly colored with six prominent spines on their broad, hardened, shell-like abdomens.The name Gasteracantha means "belly, abdomen, and akantha" in Greek.The true crab spiders are not related to the spiny-backed orb-weavers.Other names for spider species include thorn, star, kite, and jewel.
The members of the group exhibit sexual dimorphism.Males are smaller than females and lack bright colors.It was 4, 5, and 7.
In tropical and subtropical climates, gasteracantha is distributed.The most diverse part of tropical Asia is India.The Americas have one species, G. cancriformis.Gasteracantha species are related to spine-bearing orb-weavers in other genera.[8]
Many questions of species limits and distribution and generic interrelationships are unanswered.A lack of male specimen and descriptions for many species, missing or damaged type specimen, and ambiguous initial descriptions in the 18th and 19th century are some of the challenges.The 70 species of Spiders that have been recognized by the World Spider Catalog are many based on literature over 100 years old.[2]
Several other spiny orb-weaver genera of Africa, Asia, and Australasia are related to Gasteracantha.
Macracantha, Actinacantha and Thelacantha were found to be paraphyletic by a study in 2019.The two allied plants are M. arcsuata and T. brevispina.The authors did not propose generic reassignments based on their findings.10
The orb-weavers in North and South America have hardened abdomens, but they are not related to Gasteracantha.[8]