Paratheuma

Paratheuma
	juvenile male P. draneyi in New Zealand
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Argyronetidae
Genus:	Paratheuma; Bryant, 1940
Type species
	P. insulana; (Banks, 1902)
Species
	12, see text
Synonyms
	Corteza Roth & Brown, 1975; Litisedes Oi, 1960; Swainsia Marples, 1964;

Paratheuma is a genus of cribellate araneomorph spiders in the family Argyronetidae. It was first described by Elizabeth B. Bryant in 1940.^[5] Originally placed with the ground spiders, it was transferred to the intertidal spiders in 1975,^[6] and to the Dictynidae in 2016.^[7]

Species

As of October 2025, this genus includes twelve species:^[1]

Paratheuma andromeda Beatty & Berry, 1989 – Cook Islands
Paratheuma armata (Marples, 1964) – Caroline Islands to Samoa
Paratheuma australis Beatty & Berry, 1989 – Australia (Queensland), Fiji
Paratheuma awasensis Shimojana, 2013 – Japan (Okinawa)
Paratheuma draneyi Berry, 2024 – New Zealand
Paratheuma enigmatica Zamani, Marusik & Berry, 2016 – Iran
Paratheuma insulana (Banks, 1902) – United States, Caribbean. Introduced to China (Hainan), Japan (type species)
Paratheuma interaesta (Roth & Brown, 1975) – Mexico
Paratheuma makai Berry & Beatty, 1989 – Hawaii
Paratheuma ramseyae Beatty & Berry, 1989 – Cook Islands
Paratheuma rangiroa Beatty & Berry, 1989 – Polynesia
Paratheuma shirahamaensis (Oi, 1960) – China, Korea, Japan

^ ^a ^b ^c "Gen. Paratheuma Bryant, 1940". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
^ Platnick, N. I. (1977). "Notes on the spider genus Paratheuma Bryant (Arachnida, Araneae)". Journal of Arachnology. 3: 199.
^ Yaginuma, T. (1990). "A spider genus Litisedes Oi is synonymized with Paratheuma Bryant". Nankiseibutu. 32: 2.
^ Beatty, J. A.; Berry, J. W. (1988). "The spider genus Paratheuma (Araneae, Desidae)". Journal of Arachnology. 16: 48.
^ Bryant, E. B. (1940). "Cuban spiders in the Museum of Comparative Zoology". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 86: 247–532.
^ Roth, V. D.; Brown, W. L. (1975). "A new genus of Mexican intertidal zone spider (Desidae) with biological and behavioral notes". American Museum Novitates (2568): 2.
^ Zamani, A.; Marusik, Y. M.; Berry, J. W. (2016). "A new species of Paratheuma (Araneae: Dictynidae) from Southwestern Asia and transfer of the genus". Zoology in the Middle East. 62 (2): 178. doi:10.1080/09397140.2016.1173927. S2CID 87164738.