Box kite spider explained

Box kite spiders (Isoxya) is a genus of Afrotropical orb-weaver spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1885. Like the spiny orb-weavers they have six prominent (but short) spines on their abdomen. They are small spiders, measuring 3to across.^[1] They have a sclerotised (or porcelain-like) abdomen which is typical of the Gasteracanthinae.^[1]

Species

it contains sixteen species:^[2]

• Isoxya basilewskyi Benoit & Emerit, 1975 – Rwanda, Congo
• Isoxya cicatricosa (C. L. Koch, 1844) – Central, East, Southern Africa, Yemen
• Isoxya cowani (Butler, 1883) – Madagascar
• Isoxya mahafalensis Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
• Isoxya milloti Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
• Isoxya mossamedensis Benoit, 1962 – Angola
• Isoxya mucronata (Walckenaer, 1841) – Central, Southern Africa
• Isoxya nigromutica (Caporiacco, 1939) – East Africa
• Isoxya penizoides Simon, 1887 – West, Central, East Africa
• Isoxya reuteri (Lenz, 1886) – Madagascar
• Isoxya semiflava Simon, 1887 – West, Central Africa
• Isoxya somalica (Caporiacco, 1940) – Somalia
• Isoxya stuhlmanni (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Central, East, Southern Africa
• Isoxya tabulata (Thorell, 1859) – Central, East, Southern Africa
• Isoxya testudinaria (Simon, 1901) – West, Central, East Africa
• Isoxya yatesi Emerit, 1973 – South Africa

Notes and References

1. Web site: Larsen. Norman. Isoxya (box kite spiders). biodiversity explorer. iziko museums. 2013-06-17. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130329164835/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/arachnids/spiders/araneidae/isoxya.htm. 29 March 2013.
2. Web site: Gen. . World Spider Catalog. 2019-05-13. Natural History Museum Bern.