Hypsosinga


Hypsosinga is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871, with a wide global distribution.

Distribution

Most Hypsosinga species are found in Eurasia from Greenland to Japan, while a few occur in Africa and North America
In 2015, female Hypsosinga heri spiders were identified at the RSPB Radipole Lake nature reserve in Dorset, England. The previous recorded sightings of the species in the UK were in 1898 and 1912 at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire.

Life style

Hypsosinga live on low plants where their small orb-webs frequently go unnoticed. Levy reported on a species that lives under stones and which could easily be confused with theridiids. Hypsosinga make a complete orb-web sually with a retreat. They are frequently sampled in sweep nets in grassland.

Description

The genera Singa and Hypsosinga comprise small spiders identifiable by a shiny body decorated with spots or lines. Hypsosinga has a carapace that is smooth and rather wide in front, wider than the eye area, with no thoracic depression or sometimes only a small longitudinal black mark in the male.
The integument is shiny, the eye area is usually black, and the posterior median eyes are usually their own diameter apart. Hypsosinga differs from Singa in having the posterior median eyes as the largest, while the ocular quadrangle is wider behind than in front, or rectangular.
The abdomen in Hypsosinga, unlike that of Singa, tends to be oval and widest in the middle, with either two dorsal longitudinal bands or four dark spots. The epigynum differs from those of both Singa and Araneus in lacking a scape.

Etymology

The genus name is derived from the Greek "hypso", meaning "high", referring to the higher clypeus than those of the genus Singa.

Species

, this genus includes nineteen species and three subspecies: