Tidarren sisyphoides

Tidarren sisyphoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Theridiidae
Genus:	Tidarren
Species:	T. sisyphoides
Binomial name
Tidarren sisyphoides Walckenaer, 1842

Tidarren sisyphoides is a spider of the family Theridiidae (tangle web spiders).

The male of this species is only ~1% the size of the female. At copulation, the male dies during insertion and remains attached to the female for more than two hours. However, the female does not eat her mate. The dead male is afterwards removed from the web.

Etymology

From Sisyphos, a king in Greek mythology.

Distribution

Tidarren sisyphoides occurs from the southern United States to Colombia and on the West Indies.

References

• B. Knoflach, S. P. Benjamin, 2003: Mating without Sexual Cannibalism in Tidarren sisyphoides (Araneae, Theridiidae). Journal of Arachnology 31:445-448 (PDF)