Cyclosini

Belongs within: Araneidae.

Just as we suspected: trash

Published 2 August 2024

The fin de siècle French arachnologist Eugene Simon has cast a long shadow, but not all of his proposals have stood the test of time. In his classification of the orb-weavers of the Araneidae, Simon recognised a group Cycloseae for genera in which the female cephalothorax had a narrow cephalic region demarcated by a strong semi-circular sulcus, and a deep fossa in the thoracic region (Murphy & Murphy 1983). Webs of Cycloseae often incorporated a stabilimentum and/or foreign materials. However, recent phylogenetic analyses have not kind to Simon’s Cycloseae, and if this taxon is recognised in any capacity in the modern day, it may be restricted to the genus Cyclosa.

Species of Cyclosa may be found around the world. As well as the aforementioned features of the cephalothorax, the abdomen is commonly elongated posteriorly and may be produced into distinct protrusions. The male pedipalp bears a single macroseta.

Cyclosa webs include a stabilimentum that may form a spiral or linear pattern. Some Cyclosa species have acquired the name of ‘trash-line spiders’ due to their habit of incorporating foreign matter into the stabilimentum, such as egg-sacs, prey remains, and other debris. The spider itself sits at the base of the stabilimentum, hidden among its collection of filth.

Systematics of Cyclosini

<==Cyclosini [Cycloseae]G76
    |--Cyclosa Menge 1866PVD10
    |    |  i. s.: C. argenteoalba Bösenberg & Strand 1906B11
    |    |         C. atrata Bösenberg & Strand 1906AM11
    |    |         C. bifida (Doleschall 1859)AM11
    |    |         C. bifurcataWC17
    |    |         C. confraga (Thorell 1892)AM11
    |    |         C. insulana (Costa 1834)Z02
    |    |         C. octotuberculata Karsch 1879B11
    |    |         C. oculata (Walckenaer 1802)G76
    |    |         C. sedeculata Karsch 1879B11
    |    |         C. spirifera Simon 1889AM11
    |    |         C. trilobata (Urquhart 1885)PVD10 [=Arachnura trilobataNS00]
    |    |         C. turbinata (Walckenaer 1842)Z02
    |    |--*C. conica (Pallas 1772)G76, SC20, G76 [=Aranea conicaG76]
    |    `--+--C. caroliSC20
    |       `--C. walckenaeri (Pickard-Cambridge 1889)SC20, AM11
    `--NemoscolusSC97

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[AM11] Araujo, D., V. F. Mattos, A. M. Giroti, M. G. Kraeski, L. S. Carvalho & A. D. Brescovit. 2011. Cytogenetical characterization of six orb-weaver species and review of cytogenetical data for Araneidae. Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 337–344.

[B11] Blackledge, T. A. 2011. Prey capture in orb weaving spiders: are we using the best metric? Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 205–210.

[G76] Grasshoff, M. 1976. Zur Taxonomie und Nomenklatur mitteleuropäischer Radnetzspinnen der Familie Araneidae (Arachnida: Araneae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 57 (1–3): 143–154.

Murphy, J., & F. Murphy. 1983. The orb weaver genus Acusilas (Araneae, Araneidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 6 (3): 115–123.

[NS00] Nicholls, D. C., P. J. Sirvid, S. D. Pollard & M. Walker. 2000. A list of arachnid primary types held in Canterbury Museum. Records of the Canterbury Museum 14: 37–48.

[PVD10] Paquin, P., C. J. Vink & N. Dupérré. 2010. Spiders of New Zealand: annotated family key and species list. Manaaki Whenua Press: Lincoln (New Zealand).

[SC97] Scharff, N., & J. A. Coddington. 1997. A phylogenetic analysis of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 120: 355–434.

[SC20] Scharff, N., J. A. Coddington, T. A. Blackledge, I. Agnarsson, V. W. Framenau, T. Szűts, C. Y. Hayashi & D. Dimitrov. 2020. Phylogeny of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Araneae: Araneoidea). Cladistics 36: 1–21.

[WC17] Wheeler, W. C., J. A. Coddington, L. M. Crowley, D. Dimitrov, P. A. Goloboff, C. E. Griswold, G. Hormiga, L. Prendini, M. J. Ramírez, P. Sierwald, L. Almeida-Silva, F. Alvarez-Padilla, M. A. Arnedo, L. R. Benavides Silva, S. P. Benjamin, J. E. Bond, C. J. Grismado, E. Hasan, M. Hedin, M. A. Izquierdo, F. M. Labarque, J. Ledford, L. Lopardo, W. P. Maddison, J. A. Miller, L. N. Piacentini, N. I. Platnick, D. Polotow, D. Silva-Dávila, N. Scharff, T. Szűts, D. Ubick, C. J. Vink, H. M. Wood & J. Zhang. 2017. The spider tree of life: phylogeny of Araneae based on target-gene analyses from an extensive taxon sampling. Cladistics 33: 574–616.

[Z02] Zschokke, S. 2002. Ultraviolet reflectance of spiders and their webs. Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 246–254.