- Source: Platythomisus
Platythomisus is a genus of flattened crab spiders (family Thomisidae) from Africa and Southern Asia.
Description
Females reach a body length of about 20 mm, males grow up to four mm. The smooth, convex cephalothorax is quite large, with smooth, slender legs that are not particularly long. The legs are often free of spines, with the occasional exception on the first two pairs. The opisthosoma is stout and oval.
Platythomisus octomaculatus has a yellow-orange color with four round, black marks on the cephalothorax and seven large black marks on the opisthosoma, with one spot near the cephalothorax, and the other six following behind in two longitudinal rows. The legs are of a bright yellow, with the outer halves black.
Biology
Platythomisus octomaculatus is a rather rare species. One of the plants it has been found on is the yellow Hibiscus tiliaceus. In captivity it was observed to feed on bees.
Name
The genus name is combined from Ancient Greek platys "flat" and the name of the crab spider genus Thomisus.
Species
Platythomisus deserticola Lawrence, 1936 — Southern Africa
Platythomisus heraldicus Karsch, 1878 — East Africa, Zanzibar
Platythomisus insignis Pocock, 1899 — Equatorial Guinea, Congo
Platythomisus jubbi Lawrence, 1968 — South Africa
Platythomisus jucundus Thorell, 1894 — Java
Platythomisus nigriceps Pocock, 1899 — Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast
Platythomisus octomaculatus (C. L. Koch, 1845) — Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia
Platythomisus pantherinus Pocock, 1898 — Malawi
Platythomisus quadrimaculatus Hasselt, 1882 — Sumatra
Platythomisus scytodimorphus (Karsch, 1886) — East Africa
Platythomisus sexmaculatus Simon, 1897 — Somalia
Platythomisus sibayius Lawrence, 1968 — South Africa
Platythomisus sudeepi Biswas, 1977 — India, Sri Lanka
Platythomisus xiandao Lin & Li, 2019 — India, China
Footnotes
References
Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
Platnick, Norman I. (2009): The world spider catalog, version 10.0. American Museum of Natural History.
External links
Picture of an adult P. octomaculatus
