Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 1, 2026

Menneus

Menneus is a genus of net-casting spiders that was first described by Eugène Simon in 1876. It includes the former genera Avella and Avellopsis. Species are found in Australia, New Caledonia, and eastern and southern Africa. Originally placed with the cribellate orb-weavers, it was moved to the Deinopidae in 1967.

Last revised
Jul 1, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
358 w
Citations
9
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Menneus
Temporal range:
M. nemesio
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Deinopidae
Genus: Menneus
Simon, 18761
Type species
M. tetragnathoides
Simon, 1876
Species

14, see text

Synonyms23

Menneus is a genus of net-casting spiders that was first described by Eugène Simon in 1876.4 It includes the former genera Avella and Avellopsis. Species are found in Australia, New Caledonia, and eastern and southern Africa.2 Originally placed with the cribellate orb-weavers, it was moved to the Deinopidae in 1967.5

Species

  • M. camelus
    M. camelus
  • M. capensis
    M. capensis
  • M. dromedarius
    M. dromedarius

Species

As of September 2025, this genus includes 14 species:1

  • Menneus aussie Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales), New Caledonia
  • Menneus bituberculatus Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – Australia (Queensland), possibly New Guinea
  • Menneus camelus Pocock, 1902 – South Africa
  • Menneus capensis (Purcell, 1904) – South Africa
  • Menneus darwini Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – Tanzania
  • Menneus dromedarius Purcell, 1904 – South Africa, Madagascar
  • Menneus nemesio Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – Australia (New South Wales)
  • Menneus neocaledonicus (Simon, 1888) – New Caledonia
  • Menneus quasimodo Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – Australia (Western Australia)
  • Menneus samperi Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – East Africa
  • Menneus superciliosus (Thorell, 1881) – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales)
  • Menneus tetragnathoides Simon, 1877 – Angola, Malawi, Tanzania (type species)
  • Menneus trinodosus Rainbow, 1920 – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Lord Howe Island)
  • Menneus wa Coddington, Kuntner & Opell, 2012 – Australia (Western Australia)
References

References

  1. "Genus Menneus". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  2. Gloor, Daniel; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Blick, Theo; Kropf, Christian (2019). "Gen. Menneus Simon, 1876". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  3. Coddington, J. A.; Kuntner, M.; Opell, B. D. (2012). "Systematics of the spider family Deinopidae with a revision of the genus Menneus". Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 636: 12.
  4. Simon, E. (1876). "Etude sur le arachnides du Congo". Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France. 1: 215–224.
  5. Lehtinen, P. T. (1967). "Classification of the cribellate spiders and some allied families, with notes on the evolution of the suborder Araneomorpha". Annales Zoologici Fennici. 4: 217.