About Micrathena sagittata (Walckenaer, 1841)
Micrathena sagittata, commonly called the arrow-shaped micrathena, is a species of spider in the family Araneidae. It is distributed in the eastern United States and across all of Central America. This is a distinctively colored spider marked by its characteristic arrow-shaped abdomen. Most of the abdomen is yellow, with black indentations on its upper surface and variable red and black patterning on its lower surface. The abdomen has three pairs of tubercles: each tubercle has a black tip and a red base. The pair of tubercles at the rear end of the abdomen are quite large, point outward, and form the two bottom corners of the spider’s triangular, arrow-shaped body. Adult females reach up to 9 millimetres (0.35 in) in body length (legs not included), while adult males are smaller, reaching only 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in length. Males have no spines and are rarely encountered. The genus name Micrathena comes from the Greek word "micro," which means small, and the name of the Greek goddess Athena. The species name sagittata is a Latin word meaning "arrowed, in the form of an arrow," a reference to the shape of this spider's abdomen.
