Box kite spider

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 3 to 7 millimetres (0.12 to 0.28 in) across.^[1] They have a sclerotised (or porcelain-like) abdomen which is typical of the Gasteracanthinae.^[1]

Box kite spiders
I. tabulata
I. cicatricosa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Araneidae
Genus:	Isoxya Simon, 1885
Type species
I. cicatricosa (C. L. Koch, 1844)
Species
16, see text

Species

As of April 2019^[update] 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