Herennia

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.

Herennia
H. cf. papuana, from New Guinea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Araneidae
Subfamily: Nephilinae
Genus: Herennia
Thorell, 1877[1]
Species

See text.

Diversity
11 species

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]

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References
  1. "Gen. Herennia Thorell, 1877", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2017-05-12
  2. 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.
  3. 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: 257–266. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00533.x.
  4. Kuntner, M; I Agnarsson; M Gregoric (2009). "Nephilid spider eunuch phenomenon induced by female or rival male aggressiveness" (PDF). The Journal of Arachnology. 37: 266–271. doi:10.1636/st08-67.1.
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