In 1967, Pekka T. Lehtinen transferred the species Amaurobius laminatus, first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1878, into his newly created genus Pandava as P. laminata, placing it in the family Titanoecidae.[1][2] Over 30 years later, in 2001, a further species, Pandava hunanensis, was added to the genus.[3] A major revision of Pandava in 2010 saw five new species being added.[4]
Diagnosis
Male spiders placed in the genus Pandava differ from other species of Titanoecidae in features of the palpal bulb: the tegular process (a projection from the tegulum) is smaller; the median apophysis (one of the hardened plates making up the palpal bulb) is thumb-shaped. Females differ in features of the epigynum: the copulatory openings are more anterior.[4]
Pandava kama Almeida-Silva, Griswold & Brescovit, 2010 – India
Pandava laminata (Thorell, 1878) (type species) – Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka to China, Indonesia, Philippines, Micronesia, French Polynesia. Introduced to Britain, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Hungary
^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: 199–468
^Yin, C.M. & Bao, Y. H. (2001), "Two new species of the family Titanoecidae from Hunan Province (Arachnida: Araneae)", Journal of Changde Teachers University, Natural Science Edition, 13 (3): 58–61
