Pararaneus

Pararaneus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Araneidae
Genus:	Pararaneus; Caporiacco, 1940
Type species
	P. cyrtoscapus; (Pocock, 1898)
Species
	5, see text

Pararaneus is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Lodovico di Caporiacco in 1940.^[2]

Description

Pararaneus resembles Neoscona species but they are decorated with more and stronger spines, especially the males. Their color varies from dark brown to reddish yellow. In some species the shield-like, dorsally rounded abdomen has a pair of small white spots and in most species there are four or five transverse bands over the abdomen.^[3]

Their moderately long legs are the same color as the carapace and bear strong spines, especially in males. Anterior protruding eyes are especially significant in males, with the eyes positioned on tubercles.^[3]

Species

As of September 2025^[update], this genus includes five species:^[1]

Pararaneus cyrtoscapus (Pocock, 1898) – Central, East, Southern Africa, Yemen (Socotra) (type species)
Pararaneus perforatus (Thorell, 1899) – Central, East, Southern Africa
Pararaneus pseudostriatus (Strand, 1908) – Central, East Africa
Pararaneus spectator (Karsch, 1885) – Africa, Middle East
Pararaneus uncivulva (Strand, 1907) – Madagascar

References

^ ^a ^b "Genus Pararaneus". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
^ Caporiacco, L. di (1940). "Alcuni aracnidi di Somalia". Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della R. Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura in Portici. 31: 295–305.
^ ^a ^b Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N.; Webb, P. (2022). The Araneidae of South Africa. Version 2: part 3 (Ne-U). South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. pp. 24, 30. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6326991. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

This Araneidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[wsc-1] "Genus Pararaneus". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 26 September 2025.

[Capo1940-2] Caporiacco, L. di (1940). "Alcuni aracnidi di Somalia". Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della R. Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura in Portici. 31: 295–305.

[dippenaar2022-3] Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N.; Webb, P. (2022). The Araneidae of South Africa. Version 2: part 3 (Ne-U). South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. pp. 24, 30. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6326991. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

[1]

[2]

[3]