Latrodectus, Walckenaer, 1805

Wright, B. M. O. G., Wright, C. D., Sole, C. L., Lyle, R., Tippett, R., Sholto-Douglas, C., Verburgt, L. & Engelbrecht, I., 2019, A new forest dwelling button spider from South Africa (Araneae, Theridiidae, Latrodectus), Zootaxa 4700 (4), pp. 584-600 : 597-598

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4700.4.12

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1602CD7C-66ED-4C77-86ED-40A594187F99

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5587138

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E0791125-CC2A-F973-88D3-F966FA2CFC98

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Latrodectus
status

 

Key to the southern African species of the genus Latrodectus View in CoL View at ENA (adapted from Lotz 1994)

1 Females ............................................................................................. 2 - Males.............................................................................................. 8 2 Spermathecae parallel, abdomen with red or orange-red marking on ventrum...................................... 3 - Spermathecae in a V-formation, abdomen without red or orange-red hourglass marking on ventrum.................... 5 3 Ventral marking is orange-red and hour glass shaped......................................................... 4 - Ventral marking is red and an irregular oblong shape......................................... L. umbukwane View in CoL n. sp. 4 Spermathecal ducts with 3 loops.............................................................. L. geometricus - Spermathecal View in CoL ducts with 5 loops.............................................................. L. rhodesiensis View in CoL

5 Abdomen with red T-shaped marking on dorsum.................................................. L. karrooensis View in CoL

- Abdomen without red T-shaped marking on dorsum.......................................................... 6

6 Spermathecal ducts with 4 loops.............................................................. L. renivulvatus View in CoL

- Spermathecal ducts with 3 loops......................................................................... 7

7 Carapace width less than 3.8 mm .................................................................. L. cinctus View in CoL

- Carapace width more than 3.8 mm .............................................................. L. indistinctus View in CoL

8 Embolus with 5 loops....................................................................... L. rhodesiensis View in CoL

- Embolus with 4 or less loops............................................................................ 9

9 Embolus with 4 loops................................................................................. 10

- Embolus with 3 loops................................................................................. 12

10 No light transverse areas on abdomen and an oblong yellow-white ventral marking caudally and white oblong near book lungs, abdomen brown with light yellow-white oblong blotches dorsally and laterally outlined in darker brown, no transverse light areas (young mature male), or abdomen dark brown with darker indistinct irregular circles dorsally and ventrally (old mature male)............................................................................... L. umbukwane View in CoL n. sp.

- Abdomen dorsally with light transverse areas on dark background.............................................. 11

11 Abdomen dorsally with broken light transverse areas on a darker background........................... L. geometricus View in CoL

- Abdomen dorsally with continuous light transverse areas on a dark background......................... L. renivulvatus View in CoL

12 Abdomen dark with dorsally an orange-red T-shaped marking........................................ L. karrooensis View in CoL

- Dorsal abdominal pattern without T-shaped marking........................................................ 13

13 Abdomen with broken light dorsal transverse areas connected with indistinct light areas, anterior light transverse area continuous.......................................................................................... L. cinctus View in CoL

- Broken light dorsal transverse areas unconnected.................................................. L. indistinctus View in CoL

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Theridiidae

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