Tolkienus
Genus of spiders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tolkienus is a genus of spiders in the family Dictynidae.[2]
| Tolkienus | |
|---|---|
| |
| T. bellans | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Dictynidae |
| Genus: | Tolkienus Cala-Riquelme, Crews & Esposito, 2025[1] |
| Type species | |
| Dictyna longispina Emerton, 1888 | |
| Species | |
|
5, see text | |
Distribution
Tolkienus is distributed across North America and Eurasia. In North America, the genus occurs in Canada and the US, with T. bellans extending into Mexico. In Eurasia, the genus is found from Eastern Europe to Iran. T. estoc is endemic to Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.[2]
Etymology
The genus is named in honor of J. R. R. Tolkien.[1]
Taxonomy
Species
As of October 2025[update], this genus includes five species and one subspecies:[2]
- Tolkienus armatus (Thorell, 1875) – Ukraine, Russia (Europe, Caucasus)
- Tolkienus bellans (Chamberlin, 1919) – United States, Mexico
- T. b. hatchi (Jones, 1948) – United States
- Tolkienus estoc Cala-Riquelme & Al-Jamal, 2025 – Equatorial Guinea
- Tolkienus longispinus (Emerton, 1888) – Canada, United States (type species)
- Tolkienus ottoi (Marusik & Koponen, 2017) – Caucasus (Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan), Iran
