Misumenops is a common genus of crab spider with more than 50 described species.

The majority of the species of Misumenops, more than 80, have been transferred to 13 genera: Ansiea, Demogenes, Diaea, Ebelingia, Ebrechtella, Henriksenia, Heriaeus, Mecaphesa, Micromisumenops , Misumena, Misumenoides, Misumessus, and Runcinioides.

Distribution Most species of this genus occur in the Americas from Canada to Argentina, with only a few exceptions: Sixteen species are found on Hawaii, one (M. dalmasi) on the Marquesas Islands, one M. melloloitaoi on Tahiti, and one M. rapaensis on Rapa Island. Two species (M. forcatus and M. zhangmuensis) occur in China, M. armatus in Central Asia, M. turanicus in Uzbekistan, M. khandalaensis in India, M. morrisi on the Philippines. M. rubrodecoratus occurs in Africa, M. decolor only in Ethiopia.

Description These are small spiders, measuring 2–7 mm in body length. The body colour ranges from yellow to pale green, though the green coloration fades to yellow when preserved in alcohol. Some specimens display red or brown patterns or lines on the carapace and abdomen, and legs I and II are sometimes banded with red or brown.

The carapace is as wide as it is long, low and slightly convex in profile, with the surface clothed with numerous erect spiniform setae. The eyes are arranged in two recurved rows, with the lateral eyes larger than the median eyes and situated on conjoined tubercles. The clypeus is vertical and bears four pairs of long primary setae on its margin. The sternum is heart-shaped.

The abdomen is round in dorsal view and flattened, clothed with numerous erect spiniform setae. The anterior two pairs of legs are approximately equal in length and thickness, but are longer and stronger than the posterior pairs. The prolateral surface of femora I and II bears strong setae, while the ventral surface of the tibiae and metatarsi has a double row of macro-setae. Males exhibit sexual dimorphism in shape, size and colour.

Name The genus name is derived from the related crab spider genus Misumena and the Greek ending ops "looks like". This ending is often used to denote closely related or similar looking genera.

Species

, this genus includes 54 species and one subspecies:

Misumenops anachoretus (Holmberg, 1876) – Argentina Misumenops armatus Spassky, 1952 – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan Misumenops bellulus (Banks, 1896) – United States, Cuba, Jamaica, Virgin Is. Dominica Misumenops biannulipes (Mello-Leitão, 1929) – Brazil Misumenops bivittatus (Keyserling, 1880) – Brazil, Uruguay Misumenops callinurus Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil Misumenops candidoi (Caporiacco, 1948) – Guyana Misumenops carneus Mello-Leitão, 1944 – Argentina Misumenops conspersus (Keyserling, 1880) – Peru Misumenops consuetus (Banks, 1898) – Mexico Misumenops croceus (Keyserling, 1880) – Colombia to Paraguay Misumenops cruentatus (Walckenaer, 1837) – United States Misumenops curadoi Soares, 1943 – Brazil Misumenops decolor (Kulczyński, 1901) – Ethiopia Misumenops delmasi Berland, 1927 – Marquesas Islands Misumenops fluminensis Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil Misumenops forcatus Song & Chai, 1990 – China Misumenops gibbosus (Blackwall, 1862) – Brazil Misumenops gracilis (Keyserling, 1880) – Mexico Misumenops guianensis (Taczanowski, 1872) – Venezuela, Brazil, French Guiana, Paraguay Misumenops haemorrhous Mello-Leitão, 1949 – Brazil Misumenops hunanensis Yin, Peng & Kim, 2000 – China Misumenops ignobilis (Badcock, 1932) – Paraguay, Argentina Misumenops khandalaensis Tikader, 1965 – India Misumenops lacticeps (Mello-Leitão, 1944) – Argentina Misumenops lenis (Keyserling, 1880) – Brazil Misumenops longispinosus (Mello-Leitão, 1949) – Brazil Misumenops maculissparsus (Keyserling, 1891) – Bonaire, Brazil, Argentina (type species) Misumenops melloleitaoi Berland, 1942 – French Polynesia (Society Is.: Tahiti, Moorea) Misumenops mexicanus (Keyserling, 1880) – Mexico Misumenops morrisi Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines Misumenops ocellatus (Tullgren, 1905) – Bolivia, Argentina Misumenops octoguttatus Mello-Leitão, 1941 – Argentina Misumenops pallens (Keyserling, 1880) – Guatemala to Argentina Misumenops pallidus (Keyserling, 1880) – Colombia to Argentina M. p. reichlini Schenkel, 1949 – Argentina Misumenops pascalis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1891) – Panama Misumenops punctatus (Keyserling, 1880) – Peru Misumenops rapaensis Berland, 1934 – Austral Is. (Rapa) Misumenops robustus Simon, 1929 – Venezuela, Peru, Brazil Misumenops roseofuscus Mello-Leitão, 1944 – Argentina Misumenops rubrodecoratus Millot, 1942 – Sub-Saharan Africa Misumenops schiapelliae Mello-Leitão, 1944 – Argentina Misumenops silvarum Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil Misumenops spinifer (Piza, 1937) – Brazil Misumenops spinitarsis Mello-Leitão, 1932 – Brazil Misumenops spinulosissimus (Berland, 1936) – Cape Verde Misumenops splendens (Keyserling, 1880) – Mexico Misumenops temibilis (Holmberg, 1876) – Chile, Argentina Misumenops temihana Garb, 2007 – French Polynesia (Society Is.) Misumenops turanicus Charitonov, 1946 – Uzbekistan Misumenops variegatus (Keyserling, 1880) – Peru Misumenops varius (Keyserling, 1880) – Colombia Misumenops zeugma Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil Misumenops zhangmuensis (Hu & Li, 1987) – China

References

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