Herennia

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Classis: Arachnida
Ordo: Araneae
Subordo: Opisthothelae
Infraordo: Araneomorphae
Taxon: Neocribellatae
Series: Entelegynae
Superfamilia: Araneoidea

Familia: Araneidae
Subfamily: Nephilinae
Genus: Herennia
Species: H. agnarssoni – H. deelemanae – H. etruscilla – H. gagamba – H. jernej – H. milleri – H. multipuncta – H. oz – H. papuana – H. sonja – H. tone
Name

Herennia Thorell, 1877

Type species: Epeira multipuncta Doleschall, 1859
References

Kuntner, M. 2005. A revision of Herennia (Araneae, Nephilidae, Nephilinae), the Australasian 'coin spiders'. Invertebrate Systematics 19: 391–436. PDF
Platnick, N. I. 2008. The World Spider Catalog, version 9.0. American Museum of Natural History. [1]

Herennia is a genus of spiders in the family Araneidae, found from India to northern Australia.[1] It was formerly placed in a separate family, Nephilidae. While two species have been known since the 19th century, nine new species were described in 2005. Spiders in this genus are sometimes called coin spiders.

While H. multipuncta is invasive and synanthropic, all other known species are endemic to islands.[2]

Like in the related genus Nephilengys, the much smaller males mutilate and sever their pedipalps, which are often found stuck in the epigynum or female genital openings. It is suggested that they act as mating plugs to prevent other males from mating with the female and thereby ensure the paternity of offspring. The males cannot mate subsequently and such "eunuch" individuals continue to stay near the female.[2][3][4]
Name

Herennia Etruscilla was the wife of Trajan Decius. There are coins bearing her image, which were probably the source for Thorell to name the genus. The non-scientific name coin spiders was proposed because of this fact.[2]
Species
H. multipuncta

As of May 2017, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following species:[1]

Herennia agnarssoni Kuntner, 2005 — Solomon Islands
Herennia deelemanae Kuntner, 2005 — Borneo
Herennia etruscilla Kuntner, 2005 — Java
Herennia gagamba Kuntner, 2005 — Philippines
Herennia jernej Kuntner, 2005 — Sumatra
Herennia milleri Kuntner, 2005 — New Guinea, New Britain
Herennia multipuncta (Doleschall, 1859) — India to China, Borneo, Sulawesi
Herennia oz Kuntner, 2005 — Northern Territory
Herennia papuana Thorell, 1881 — New Guinea
Herennia sonja Kuntner, 2005 — Kalimantan, Sulawesi
Herennia tone Kuntner, 2005 — Philippines

References

"Gen. Herennia Thorell, 1877", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2017-05-12
Kuntner, M. (2005). "A revision of Herennia (Araneae:Nephilidae:Nephilinae), the Australasian 'coin spiders'" (PDF). Invertebrate Systematics. 19 (5): 391–436. doi:10.1071/IS05024.
Kuntner, M; Kralj-Fiser, S; JM Schneider; D. Li (2009). "Mate plugging via genital mutilation in nephilid spiders: an evolutionary hypothesis" (PDF). Journal of Zoology. 277 (4): 257–266. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00533.x.
Kuntner, M; I Agnarsson; M Gregoric (2009). "Nephilid spider eunuch phenomenon induced by female or rival male aggressiveness" (PDF). The Journal of Arachnology. 37 (3): 266–271. doi:10.1636/st08-67.1. S2CID 54037236.