Runcinia insecta

Runcinia insecta
	juvenile female
	male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Thomisidae
Genus:	Runcinia
Species:	R. insecta
Binomial name
	Runcinia insecta; (L. Koch, 1875)
Synonyms
	Diaea insecta L. Koch, 1875 ; Runcinia affinis Simon, 1897 ; Runcinia annamita Simon, 1903 ; Runcinia albostriata Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 ; Plancinus advecticius Simon, 1909 ; Runcinia cataracta Lawrence, 1927 ; Thomisus cherapunjeus Tikader, 1966 ; Runcinia chauhani Sen & Basu, 1973 ; Runcinia sangasanga Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 ; Thomisus cherapunjius Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 2024 ;

Runcinia insecta is a species of spider in the family Thomisidae. It is a common species with a very wide global distribution in the Afrotropical, Oriental, and Palaearctic regions. It has been introduced to Australia.

Distribution

Runcinia insecta occurs throughout Africa and Asia and has been introduced to Australia.

In South Africa, the species is known from all provinces except Northern Cape.

Habitat and ecology

Runcinia insecta are free-living on plants.

In South Africa, they are commonly found on grass in Forest, Fynbos, Grassland, Indian Ocean Coastal Belt, and Savanna biomes at altitudes ranging from 7 to 1,842 m. The species has also been sampled in cotton, lucerne, and strawberry fields.

Description

juvenile female
male
male
male
male

References

↑ Koch, L. (1875). Die Arachniden Australiens, nach der Natur beschrieben und abgebildet. Vol. 1. Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. pp. 577–740. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.121660.
1 2 3 4 "Runcinia insecta (L. Koch, 1875)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
1 2 3 4 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2020). The Thomisidae of South Africa. Part 2 My-R. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 58. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7513276. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

External links

Citizen science observations for Runcinia insecta at iNaturalist

[koch1875-1] Koch, L. (1875). Die Arachniden Australiens, nach der Natur beschrieben und abgebildet. Vol. 1. Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. pp. 577–740. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.121660.

[wsc-2] 1 2 3 4 "Runcinia insecta (L. Koch, 1875)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-01.

[dippenaar2020-3] 1 2 3 4 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2020). The Thomisidae of South Africa. Part 2 My-R. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 58. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7513276. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.