Patu (spider)

Patu
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Family: Symphytognathidae
Genus: Patu
Marples, 1951
Species

See text.

Diversity
8 species

Patu is a genus of spiders in the family Symphytognathidae that occurs in Colombia and Oceania. Patu digua is the smallest species of spider described to date.[1]

Name

The name is possibly derived from some Polynesian term like the Māori patu (a type of short-handed club), Samoan patupatu (with a lumpy shape), fatu (a stone or another hard object) or patutu (to strike or hit something or someone). These terms all imply a rounded shape and hardness (enabling one to strike or hammer something with such an object).

Species

References

  1. William A. Shear (1986). Spiders--webs, Behavior, and Evolution. Stanford University Press. pp. 425–. ISBN 978-0-8047-1203-3.
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