Cercidia
Genus of spiders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cercidia is a genus of orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae). As of December 2025[update], it contained only three species.[1]
| Cercidia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cercidia prominens | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Genus: | Cercidia Thorell, 1869[1] |
| Type species | |
| C. prominens (Westring, 1851) | |
| Species | |
| |
Description
The genus Cercidia can be distinguished from other Palearctic araneid genera by the possession of a scutum bearing spines and having a clypeus about 2.5 times the size of the median eyes. In related species, the clypeus is less than or equal to the diameter of the anterior median eyes.[2]
Taxonomy
The genus was first erected in 1866 by Anton Menge using the name Cerceis. However, this genus name had already been used in 1840 for a genus of crustaceans, so was not available. The replacement name Cercidia was published by Tamerlan Thorell in 1869.[1][3] The name is derived from the Greek κερκίς 'shuttle'.[3]
In 1975, Herbert Walter Levi considered that Cercidia contained only one certain species, C. prominens. He doubted that C. punctigera belonged to the genus.[4] The third species accepted by the World Spider Catalog as of December 2025[update], C. levii, was not described until 1985.[1]
