Desis (spider)

Desis
Desis japonica female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Desidae
Genus:	Desis Walckenaer, 1837[1]
Type species
Desis maxillosa (Fabricius, 1793)
Species
See text.
Diversity
14 species

Desis is a genus of intertidal spiders found in Australasia, the Pacific, Japan, eastern and southern Africa, and India. They are truly marine spiders, living in the intertidal zone and emerging at night on the ebb tide to hunt for fishes and invertebrates. In the day and during high tides they hide in an air chamber sealed with silk.^[2]

Species

As of January 2016, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following species:^[1]

• Desis crosslandi Pocock, 1903 — Zanzibar, Madagascar
• Desis formidabilis (O. P.-Cambridge, 1890) — South Africa
• Desis galapagoensis Hirst, 1925 — Galápagos Islands
• Desis gardineri Pocock, 1904 — Laccadive Islands
• Desis hartmeyeri Simon, 1909 — Western Australia
• Desis inermis Gravely, 1927 — India
• Desis japonica Yaginuma, 1956 — Japan
• Desis kenyonae Pocock, 1902 — Victoria, Tasmania
• Desis marina (Hector, 1877) — New Caledonia, New Zealand, Chatham Islands
• Desis martensi L. Koch, 1872 — Malaysia
• Desis maxillosa (Fabricius, 1793) — New Guinea, New Caledonia
• Desis risbeci Berland, 1931 — New Caledonia
• Desis tangana Roewer, 1955 — East Africa
• Desis vorax L. Koch, 1872 — Samoa

References

1. "Gen. Desis Walckenaer 1837". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
2. "Desis sp. Marine Spiders". www.arachne.org.au. Retrieved 2016-01-18.