Plato (spider)

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Plato
P. ferriferus on its web in Parauapebas, Brazil
The cubic egg sac of P. ferriferus in Parauapebas, Brazil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Theridiosomatidae
Genus: Plato
Coddington, 1986[1][2]
Type species
Plato troglodita
Coddington, 1986

Plato is a genus of

generic name comes from the ancient Greek philosopher Plato
.

Description

The eye arrangement of spiders in the genus Plato

The head region of the carapace is tan, and not especially elevated. The sternum is also tan, sometimes darker, as wide as long, convex, and rounds towards the rear. The abdomen is light grey or tan, with no clear markings, and bears sparse setae. The legs are long and slender, pale tan in colour without annulations. Although the genus is

troglobitic, they have no specific modifications for living in caves or other dark places.[2][3]

The clypeal height is 3x the diameter of the AME. All of the eyes are roughly the same size, although the lateral eyes may be slightly smaller. The AME are separated by half their diameter, and the PME are separated by at least their diameter.[2]

Diagnostic features include: the base of the epigynum in female Plato species having a median projection; the cymbium having distal or mesal groves; and the underside of the male conductor having a curved apophysis.[3]

Habitat and distribution

Plato is found in the

orb webs hang from the ceilings and walls near the entrance of caves. They are typically found in humid environments, near streams or other bodies of water.[4]

Behaviour

As with other ray spiders, Plato constructs an orb web, although their webs lack a tension line.

egg sacs
are cubical, and are suspended in long threads from their vertices.
caddisflies.[4]

Species

As of 2018[update], the World Spider Catalog recognizes the following nine species:[1]

Taxonomic history

Female P. bicolor, illustrated by Eugen von Keyserling in 1886

Centre national de la recherche scientifique described P. juberthiei in 1996,[8] and Pedro H. Prete and colleagues at the Instituto Butantan described the three species P. novalima, P. ferriferus, and P. striatus in 2018.[3]

Coddington named the genus after the ancient Greek philosopher

gender.[2]

Coddington placed Plato in a new subfamily Platoninae, alongside the genus Chthonos.[2] In 2011, the German arachnologist Joerg Wunderlich [de] changed the status of Platoninae to be the tribe Platonini in the subfamily Theridiosomatinae instead,[9] although Prete and colleagues followed Coddington in having Plato in the subfamily Platoninae.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b World Spider Catalog (2018). "Gen. Plato Coddington, 1986". World Spider Catalog. 19.0. Bern: Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  2. ^
    hdl:10088/5480
    .
  3. ^
    PMID 29736139
    .
  4. ^ a b Trajano, Eleonora; Bichuette, Maria Elina (2010) [2009]. "Diversity of Brazilian subterranean invertebrates, with a list of troglomorphic taxa" (PDF). Subterranean Biology. 7: 1–16.
  5. ^ Keyserling, E. (1886). Theridiidae. Die Spinnen Amerikas. Vol. 2. Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. pp. 131–132, Pl. 15, Fig., 209.
  6. hdl:2246/4388
    .
  7. ^
    doi:10.5962/bhl.part.97130
    .
  8. ^ a b Lopez, André (1996). "Plato juberthiei (Araneae: Theridiosomatidae), nouvelle araignée souterraine de la Guyana français". Mémoires de Biospéologie. 23: 191–196.
  9. ^ Wunderlich, Joerg (2011). "New Extant Taxa of the Spider Family Theridiosomatidae (Araneae) from Laos and on Some Fossil Taxa". In Wunderlich, Joerg (ed.). Extant and Fossil Spiders (Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie. Vol. 6. Hirschberg: Joerg Wunderlich. pp. 427–444.
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