Poecilochroa

Poecilochroa is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Niklas Westring in 1874.^[2]

Poecilochroa
Poecilochroa sp. from Saul Kere, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Gnaphosidae
Genus:	Poecilochroa Westring, 1874[1]
Type species
P. variana (C. L. Koch, 1839)
Species
39, see text

Description

As Gnaphosidae, Poecilochroa have large cylindrical spinnerets. They are nocturnal, spending the day in silken retreats and going out at night to hunt.^[3]

Poecilochroa are divided into two gnaphosid groups based on their abdomen colouration: those with plain abdomens are in the Echemus group, while those with black and white abdomen are in the Herpyllus group. Males of both groups have well-developed dorsal scuta.^[4]

Habitat

Poecilochroa occur in various habitats including on and under stones and dead leaves, on vegetation, in steppes, grasslands, dry fields, stream beds and forest floors.^[5][6]

Species

As of May 2019^[update] it contains thirty-nine species and one subspecies:^[1]

• Poecilochroa albomaculata (Lucas, 1846) – Western Mediterranean
• Poecilochroa alcala Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
• Poecilochroa anomala (Hewitt, 1915) – South Africa
• Poecilochroa antineae Fage, 1929 – Mali
• Poecilochroa barmani Tikader, 1982 – India
• Poecilochroa behni Thorell, 1891 – India (Nicobar Is.)
• Poecilochroa bifasciata Banks, 1902 – Ecuador (Galapagos Is.)
• Poecilochroa capensis Strand, 1909 – South Africa
• Poecilochroa carinata Caporiacco, 1947 – Uganda
• Poecilochroa dayamibrookiana Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
• Poecilochroa devendrai Gajbe & Rane, 1985 – India
• Poecilochroa faradjensis Lessert, 1929 – Congo
• Poecilochroa furcata Simon, 1914 – France, Italy, Greece
• Poecilochroa golan Levy, 1999 – Israel
• Poecilochroa haplostyla Simon, 1907 – São Tomé and Príncipe
• Poecilochroa incompta (Pavesi, 1880) – Tunisia
• Poecilochroa insularis Kulczyński, 1911 – Indonesia (Java)
• Poecilochroa involuta Tucker, 1923 – South Africa
• Poecilochroa joreungensis Paik, 1992 – Korea
• Poecilochroa latefasciata Simon, 1893 – Peru
• Poecilochroa loricata Kritscher, 1996 – Malta
• Poecilochroa malagassa Strand, 1907 – Madagascar
• Poecilochroa parangunifasciata Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines
• Poecilochroa patricia (Simon, 1878) – France (Corsica)
• Poecilochroa pauciaculeis Caporiacco, 1947 – East Africa
• Poecilochroa perversa Simon, 1914 – France
• Poecilochroa phyllobia (Thorell, 1871) – Italy
• Poecilochroa pugnax (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874) – Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel
• Poecilochroa rollini Berland, 1933 – French Polynesia (Marquesas Is., Tuamotu)
• Poecilochroa sedula (Simon, 1897) – India
• Poecilochroa senilis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – France (Corsica) to Turkmenistan
  • Poecilochroa s. auspex (Simon, 1878) – Spain, France
• Poecilochroa taborensis Levy, 1999 – Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal
• Poecilochroa taeguensis Paik, 1992 – Korea
• Poecilochroa tikaderi Patel, 1989 – India
• Poecilochroa tridotus Caleb & Mathai, 2013 – India
• Poecilochroa trifasciata Mello-Leitão, 1918 – Brazil
• Poecilochroa variana (C. L. Koch, 1839) (type) – Europe to Central Asia
• Poecilochroa viduata (Pavesi, 1883) – Ethiopia
• Poecilochroa vittata Kulczyński, 1911 – Indonesia (Java)