This paper offers the first cladistic analysis of a wide selection of theridiid genera based on
morphological data. The analysis treats 53 theridiid taxa representing 32 genera …

Spiders are the preeminent silk craftsmen among arthropods and are best known for
producing aerial orb webs that snare flying insects. Orb web spiders are ubiquitous …

The family Theridiidae is one of the most diverse assemblages of spiders, from both a
morphological and ecological point of view. The family includes some of the very few cases …

Insular adaptive radiations in which repeated bouts of diversification lead to phenotypically
similar sets of taxa serve to highlight predictability in the evolutionary process [1]. However …

We trace the evolution of the web designs of spiders in the large family Theridiidae using
two recent, largely concordant phylogenies that are based on morphology and molecules …

This is the first description of the natural history and behaviour of Stenolemus giraffa
Wygodzinsky, an emesine assassin bug (Reduviidae; Emesinae) from Australia. Field data …

Sociality and kleptoparasitism occur commonly in theridiid spiders. In both behaviors a
number of conspecifics occupy a single web; gregariousness entails tolerance. Sociality has …

Candy-striped spiders (two closely related and nearly indistinguishable species:
Enoplognatha ovata (Clerck, 1757) and Enoplognatha latimana Hippa & Oksala, 1982) are …

Spiders in the subfamily Argyrodinae are known for their associations with other spiders.
These associations include predation (araneophagy), web usurpation and kleptoparasitism …

The diversification of a host lineage can be influenced by both the external environment and
its assemblage of microbes. Here, we use a young lineage of spiders, distributed along a …