Cyrtophora
Genus of spiders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cyrtophora, the tent-web spiders, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1895.[2] Although they are in the "orb weaver" family, they do not build orb webs. Their tent-like, highly complex non-sticky web is sometimes considered a precursor of the simplified orb web. These webs are aligned horizontally, with a network of supporting threads above them. These spiders often live in colonies. Females have a body length of mostly about 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long. Some members, including Cyrtophora cicatrosa, exhibit the ability to change colour rapidly.[3]
| Tent-web spider | |
|---|---|
| |
| Green tent-web spider | |
 | |
| Cyrtophora moluccensis suspended beneath its web | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Subfamily: | Cyrtophorinae |
| Genus: | Cyrtophora Simon, 1864 |
| Type species | |
| C. citricola (Forsskål, 1775) | |
| Species | |
|
44, see text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
A kleptoparasitic spider (Argyrodes fissifrons) was found to live in a mutualistic relationships with Cyrtophora species.[4][5] Some of the species are considered social spiders, building large structures where the territories of the offspring are built along the margin of the mothers web.[6]
Species
C. citricola
C. exanthematica
C. moluccensis
C. petersi
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As of October 2025[update], this genus includes 44 species and three subspecies:[1]
- Cyrtophora admiralia Strand, 1913 – Admiralty Is.
- Cyrtophora beccarii (Thorell, 1878) – Laos, Malaysia to Australia (Northern Territory)
- Cyrtophora bicauda (Saito, 1933) – Taiwan
- Cyrtophora bidenta Tikader, 1970 – India
- Cyrtophora bimaculata Han, Zhang & Zhu, 2010 – China
- Cyrtophora bituberculata Roy, Saha & Raychaudhuri, 2017 – India
- Cyrtophora caudata Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895 – East Africa (region)
- Cyrtophora cephalotes Simon, 1877 – Philippines
- Cyrtophora cicatrosa (Stoliczka, 1869) – Pakistan to Australia (Northern Territory)
- Cyrtophora citricola (Forsskål, 1775) – Southern Europe, Africa, Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Japan. Introduced to Cuba, Dominican Rep. Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Brazil (type species)
- Cyrtophora cordiformis (L. Koch, 1871) – Indonesia (New Guinea), Australia (Queensland, Lord Howe Is.)
- Cyrtophora crassipes (Rainbow, 1897) – Australia (New South Wales)
- Cyrtophora cylindroides (Walckenaer, 1841) – China to Australia (Queensland)
- Cyrtophora diazoma (Thorell, 1890) – Indonesia (Sumatra)
- Cyrtophora doriae (Thorell, 1881) – Indonesia (New Guinea), Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.)
- Cyrtophora eczematica (Thorell, 1893) – Sinpapore
- Cyrtophora exanthematica (Doleschall, 1859) – Myanmar to Philippines, Australia (New South Wales)
- Cyrtophora feae (Thorell, 1887) – India to Myanmar
- Cyrtophora forbesi (Thorell, 1890) – Indonesia (Sumatra)
- Cyrtophora gazellae (Karsch, 1878) – Papua New Guinea (New Britain)
- Cyrtophora gemmosa Thorell, 1899 – Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
- Cyrtophora guangxiensis Yin, Wang, Xie & Peng, 1990 – China
- Cyrtophora hainanensis Yin, Wang, Xie & Peng, 1990 – China
- Cyrtophora hirta L. Koch, 1872 – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales)
- Cyrtophora ikomosanensis (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) – Taiwan, Japan
- Cyrtophora jabalpurensis Gajbe & Gajbe, 1999 – India
- Cyrtophora koronadalensis Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- Cyrtophora ksudra Sherriffs, 1928 – India
- Cyrtophora lacunaris Yin, Wang, Xie & Peng, 1990 – China
- Cyrtophora lahirii Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 2004 – Bangladesh
- Cyrtophora larinioides Simon, 1895 – Cameroon
- Cyrtophora limbata (Thorell, 1898) – Myanmar
- Cyrtophora lineata Kulczyński, 1910 – Solomon Islands, Bismarck Arch.
- Cyrtophora moluccensis (Doleschall, 1857) – India to Japan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Solomon Islands, Palau, Micronesia, Fiji, Tonga, French Polynesia
- Cyrtophora monulfi Chrysanthus, 1960 – Indonesia (New Guinea), Australia (Northern Territory)
- Cyrtophora nareshi Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 2004 – Bangladesh
- Cyrtophora parangexanthematica Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
- Cyrtophora parnasia L. Koch, 1872 – Australia (Western Australia, Tasmania)
- Cyrtophora petersi Karsch, 1878 – Mozambique, South Africa
- Cyrtophora rainbowi (Roewer, 1955) – Australia (New South Wales)
- Cyrtophora sextuberculata Tanikawa & Petcharad, 2015 – Thailand
- Cyrtophora subacalypha (Simon, 1882) – Yemen
- Cyrtophora trigona (L. Koch, 1871) – Australia (Queensland), New Guinea
- Cyrtophora unicolor (Doleschall, 1857) – India, Sri Lanka to Japan, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia (Christmas Is.)
