Tidarren

{{Short description|Genus of spiders}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = | image = Tidarren cuneolatum 309887473 559249853.jpg | image_caption = Female ''T. cuneolatum'' | image2 = Tidarren cuneolatum 310126278 559689604.jpg | image2_caption = Female ''T. cuneolatum'' | taxon = Tidarren | authority = Chamberlin & Ivie, 1934<ref name=wsc /> | type_species = ''T. sisyphoides'' (Walckenaer, 1841) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 24, see text | synonyms = | synonyms_ref = <ref name=wsc /> }}

'''''Tidarren''''' is a genus of tangle-web spiders first described by Ralph Vary Chamberlin & Wilton Ivie in 1934.<ref name=Cham1934 />

Males are much smaller than females, and they amputate one of their palps before maturation, entering their adult life with only one palp.<ref name="vollrath1992" /> Though it is uncertain why they do this, it may be done to increase mobility, as the palps are disproportionately large compared to the size of the body. It may also be done because only one palp is needed.

Females of the Yemeni species ''T. argo'' tear off the single remaining palp before feeding on males. The palp remains attached to the female's epigyne for about four hours, continuing to function despite being separated from the male's body.<ref name="knoflach2001" />

==Life style== Their webs consist of a retreat and a scaffold of threads extending to the side of a wall, not or rarely reaching the ground. Web dimensions depend on the space available, in the field large female webs may measure up to half a metre in height. The retreat is a densely spun area into which prey remnants and other debris are incorporated. The adult males of ''Tidarren'' has only one palp, as a result of self-amputation. This is accomplished a few hours after the penultimate moult, when the male raises one palp and turns around in circles until the palp becomes caught in the threads at the moulting site. By further circling the palp becomes constricted and finally breaks off. During mating the male constructs a mating thread, which he plucks rhythmically until the female approaches. Copulation then takes place on the mating thread. Males generally die during mating. In ''T. cuneolatum'' the male is devoured after a few minutes of insertion.<ref name="dippenaar2021" />

==Description== {{see also|Glossary of spider terms}}

Sexual size dimorphism pronounced. Females are medium-sized about 3 mm long, males are dwarfs with a total body length of approximately 1 mm. Adult males possess only one palp. Carapace longer than wide, without modifications; clypeus in male high, with eye region protruding; in female concave, with eye region recessed; eyes about equal in size; sternum sometimes with characteristic pattern. Abdomen higher than long, in many species with dorsal tubercle, sometimes with white lines on sides and a white aboral stripe from apex to spinnerets. Male stridulatory organ on posterior border of prosoma present, but inconspicuous. Leg formula 1423.<ref name="dippenaar2021" />

==Taxonomy== This genus was revised by Knoflach & Van Harten (2006).<ref name="knoflach2006" /> According to them the regular occurrence of this genus in Africa suggests more species might be listed under the large collective genus ''Theridion''. Owing to their small size, males are under-represented in museum collections, hence many species comprise females only.<ref name="dippenaar2021" />

{{clear}} ==Species== {{as of|2025|10}}, this genus includes 24 species:<ref name="wsc" /> {{Div col}} * ''Tidarren aethiops'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – DR Congo * ''Tidarren afrum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Cameroon, Uganda * ''Tidarren apartiolum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Madagascar * ''Tidarren argo'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2001 – Yemen, Chad * ''Tidarren circe'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Namibia * ''Tidarren cuneolatum'' (Tullgren, 1910) – Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Africa, Spain, Yemen. Introduced to Venezuela * ''Tidarren dasyglossa'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Madagascar * ''Tidarren dentigerum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Yemen * ''Tidarren ephemerum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Madagascar * ''Tidarren gracile'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Yemen * ''Tidarren griswoldi'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Cameroon * ''Tidarren haemorrhoidale'' (Bertkau, 1880) – USA to Argentina * ''Tidarren horaki'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Madagascar * ''Tidarren konrad'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Yemen * ''Tidarren lanceolatum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – DR Congo * ''Tidarren levii'' Schmidt, 1957 – DR Congo * ''Tidarren mixtum'' (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896) – Mexico to Costa Rica * ''Tidarren obtusum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Madagascar * ''Tidarren perplexum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Cameroon, DR Congo * ''Tidarren scenicum'' (Thorell, 1899) – Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, South Africa, Eswatini * ''Tidarren sheba'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Yemen * ''Tidarren sisyphoides'' (Walckenaer, 1841) – USA to Argentina, Caribbean (type species) * ''Tidarren ubickorum'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Zimbabwe, South Africa * ''Tidarren usambara'' Knoflach & van Harten, 2006 – Tanzania {{Div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="wsc">{{cite web | url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/3554 | title=Gen. ''Tidarren'' Chamberlin & Ivie, 1934 | publisher=World Spider Catalog | doi=10.24436/2 | accessdate=2025-10-03}}</ref> <ref name="Cham1934">{{cite journal| last1=Chamberlin| first1=R. V.| last2=Ivie| first2=W.| year=1934| title=A new genus of theridiid spiders in which the male develops only one palpus.| journal=Bulletin of the University of Utah| pages=1–18| volume=24| issue=4}}</ref> <ref name="dippenaar2021">{{cite book |last1=Dippenaar-Schoeman |first1=A.S. |last2=Haddad |first2=C.R. |last3=Foord |first3=S.H. |last4=Lotz |first4=L.N. |year=2021 |title=The Theridiidae of South Africa. Part 2 [R-T]. Version 1 |publisher=South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide |page=44 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7515998}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4}}</ref> <ref name="vollrath1992">{{cite journal| last1=Vollrath| first1=F.| last2=Parker| first2=G.A.| year=1992| title=Sexual dimorphism and distorted sex ratios in spiders| journal=Nature| volume=360| issue=6400| pages=156–159|doi=10.1038/360156a0| bibcode=1992Natur.360..156V| s2cid=4320130}}</ref> <ref name="knoflach2001">{{cite journal| first1=Barbara| last1=Knoflach| first2=Antonius| last2=van Harten| title=Tidarren argo sp. nov. (Araneae: Theridiidae) and its exceptional copulatory behaviour: emasculation, male palpal organ as a mating plug and sexual cannibalism| journal=Journal of Zoology| year=2001| volume=254| issue=4| pages=449–459| publisher=Cambridge University Press| doi=10.1017/S0952836901000954}}</ref> <ref name="knoflach2006">{{cite journal |last1=Knoflach |first1=B. |last2=Van Harten |first2=A. |year=2006 |title=The one-palped spider genera Tidarren and Echinotheridion in the Old World (Araneae, Theridiidae), with comparative remarks on Tidarren from America |journal=Journal of Natural History |volume=40 |issue=25-26 |pages=1483-1616 |doi=10.1080/00222930600940993}}</ref> }}

==External links== * {{inaturalist taxon}}

Category:Theridiidae Category:Araneomorphae genera Category:Taxa named by Ralph Vary Chamberlin Category:Taxa named by Wilton Ivie