
John Caleb
John Caleb
Ph.D
Exploring Indian spider diversity through new discoveries and revisions
About
135
Publications
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Introduction
I am an arachnologist and my work mainly focuses on the taxonomy and diversity of jumping spiders (Salticidae) of the Indian subcontinent. I also attempt to bring clarity to the diversity of Indian spiders by taxonomic revision of few other families such as Corinnidae, Gnaphosidae, Lycosidae and Oxyopidae.
Additional affiliations
October 2021 - October 2022
March 2017 - March 2020
Education
August 2010 - October 2016
June 2007 - May 2009
June 2004 - April 2007
Publications
Publications (135)
The jumping spider Foliabitus weihangi Lin et Li, 2020 is new for Assam State and the genus Foliabitus Zhang et Maddison, 2012 is recorded from India for the first time.
We describe a new plexippine genus, Tenkanagen. nov., supported by phylogenomic data from ultraconserved elements (UCEs), Sanger sequences of four genes, and morphological evidence. The type species, Tenkana manu (Caleb, Christudhas, Laltanpuii & Chitra, 2014), comb. nov. is transferred from Colopsus, as is Tenkana arkavathi (Caleb, 2022), comb. no...
A new species of the jumping spider genus Carrhotus Thorell – Carrhotus
piperus sp. nov. – is described based on the male holotype collected from Tamil Nadu, India. Detailed description and illustrations are provided. The new species can be separated from the closely related taxa by the prolateral protrusion of the bulb arising from an 8 o’clock p...
Ten names for spiders from India, currently recognised as valid by the World Spider Catalog (2024), are shown to be unavailable. Thirty-four spider names which available, but which instead present taxonomic problems are treated as nomina dubia.
The jumping spider genus Ligdus Thorell, 1895 was established as a monotypic genus with Ligdus chelifer Thorell, 1895 as its type species (Thorell 1895). The only known species was described based on a juvenile specimen collected from Tharawaddy, Myanmar (erstwhile Burma), which was later illustrated by Prószyński (1984). During recent field work i...
Two new species of the ground-dwelling jumping spider genus Habrocestum Simon, 1876 from the wet evergreen forests of the southern Western Ghats, India are described: H. benjamin sp. nov. (♂♀) and H. swaminathan sp. nov. (♂♀). Furthermore, H. emanasakgrensis Kadam & Tripathi, 2023 is synonymized with Chinattus validus (Xie, Peng & Kim, 1993) syn. n...
Two new species, Habrocestum sahyadri sp. nov., and Irura shendurney sp. nov. are described from the Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala. The unknown female of Habrocestum kerala Asima, Caleb, Babu & Prasad, 2022 is described and three other species: Gelotia lanka Wijesinghe, 1991, Phintella accentifera (Simon, 1901) and Vailimia jharbari Basumat...
Four new species of the chrysilline genus Phintella-P. dentis sp. nov. (♂♀), P. handersoni sp. nov. (♂♀), P. luna sp. nov. (♀) and P. rajbharathi sp. nov. (♂)-are described from India. Additionally, the unknown female of Phintella platnicki Sudhin, Sen & Caleb, 2023 is described and new distributional data are provided for this species. Notes on th...
Two new species of Afraflacilla Berland et Millot, 1941 are described from the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India: A. adavathurensis sp. n. and A. kerala sp. n. Detailed descriptions, diagnostic features, and illustrations are given. A map showing the distribution of all the known Indian Afraflacilla species is also provided.
Tetragnatha nitens (Audouin, 1826) is recorded for the first time from South India. The species was found in several localities in Tamil Nadu. Description and digital images of the diagnostic characters is provided with a distributional map showing its distribution in India.
Evarcha pulchella (Thorell 1895) is recorded for the first time from India. Hitherto, this species has not been recorded again in the last 128 years since its original description. Detailed diagnostic illustrations and photographs of specimens are provided, along with a map.
The species of the genera Acantholycosa Dahl, 1908, Evippomma Roewer, 1959, Hippasosa Roewer, 1960 and Trochosa C.L. Koch, 1847 described/recorded from India, are reviewed. The following new combinations are recognized: Arctosa dhikala comb. et nom. nov. (ex. Trochosa), Arctosa kalpiensis (Gajbe, 2004) comb. nov. (ex. Hippasosa), Evippa baltoroi (C...
A new plexippine jumping spider species, Colopsus peppara sp. nov., is described from males and females collected in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, in the southern part of the Western Ghats of India. The systematic history of the genus Colopsus is presented and its localities in India are mapped as well.
Animals use nests for various functions including laying eggs, raising young and gaining protection from predators. Social insect colonies provide rich microhabitats for various foreign inhabitants. Social spiders in the family Eresidae live in large, long-lasting colonies with a dense silken nest where spiders reside in complex capture webs. Socia...
A new euophryine species, Thiania indica sp. n. (♂♀), is diagnosed and described from the Western Ghats of southern India. Detailed descriptions, diagnostic features, and illustrations for the new species are provided.
A new chrysilline jumping spider species belonging to the genus Siler Simon, 1889 is described from Odisha, India. Detailed morphological descriptions, illustrations of the male palp and female genitalia and phylogenetic relationships of the new Siler species are presented. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the new species is sister to a clade of...
Two new species-Stenaelurillus megamalai sp. nov. (♂♀) from the colorful group and Stenaelurillus neyyar sp. nov. (♂♀) from the black and white group-are described from the southern Western Ghats of India. Detailed morphological descriptions, illustrations , as well as the distribution maps are provided. New distributional data for three other spec...
The type specimens of salticid species from Northeast India described by B. K. Biswas and K. Biswas kept in the National Zoological Collections, Kolkata were studied. Four new synonyms are recognized: Marpissa mizoramensis Biswas &
Biswas, 2007 syn. nov. and Evarcha optabilis (Fox, 1937) syn. nov. with Evarcha flavocincta (C.L. Koch, 1846), and Phi...
The species of the genus Hippasa described/recorded from India are reviewed based on type and topotype material. Hippasa pantherina Pocock, 1899 stat. rev. is resurrected from synonymy under Hippasa greenalliae (Blackwall, 1867). The following synonymies are proposed: Hippasa charamaensis Gajbe, 2004 syn. nov., Hippasa madhuae Tikader & Malhotra, 1...
A new jumping spider species, Colopsus arkavathi Caleb sp.n., is described from Karnataka, India. A new combination, C. manu (Caleb, Christudhas, Laltanpuii et Chitra, 2014) comb.n. (ex. Hyllus) is proposed; the latter species name is recognized as a senior synonym of C. cinereus Kanesharatnam et Benjamin, 2021 syn.n. A detailed description, illust...
Two new species of jumping spiders, Cocalus shendurneyensis sp.n., and Habrocestum mookambikaensis sp.n., are described from the South Western Ghats of India. Detailed morphological descriptions, diagnostic features and illustrations of copulatory organs are given. The current distribution of the genus Cocalus C.L. Koch, 1846 and Habrocestum Simon,...
Two new species of Habrocestum Simon, 1876 are described from Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, India: H. shendurneyensis sp.n. and H. kerala sp.n. Detailed descriptions, diagnostic features, and illustrations are given. A map showing collecting localities of all known Habrocestum species from India is also provided.
A new jumping spider species, Plexippus ignatius Caleb sp.n., is described from Karnataka state, India. Two new synonyms are proposed: Plexippus andamanensis (Tikader, 1977) syn.n. and P. calcutaensis (Tikader, 1974) syn.n., are junior synonyms of P. paykulli (Audouin, 1826) and P. petersi (Karsch, 1878) respectively. A detailed description and ill...
Tibellus elongatus Tikader, 1960 is redescribed, and the male is described for the first time. Examination of the types and newly collected specimens reveal that the species is misplaced in Tibellus and is hereby assigned to the genus Thanatus C. L. Koch, 1837-T. elongatus (Tikader, 1960) comb. nov. Another new combination is proposed: Lycopus bang...
The types of four Oxyopes species kept in the British Museum of Natural History, London and the National Zoological collection, Zoological Survey of India (Kolkata) are reexamined. Three new synonyms are recognized: Oxyopes nilgiricus Sherriffs 1955 syn. nov., O. pankaji Gajbe & Gajbe 2000 syn. nov. and O. ratnae Tikader 1970 syn. nov. with O. hind...
The spitting spider Scytodes fusca is recorded from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in South India. The species is re-described and illustrated in detail, with natural history notes and digital images, with a summary of diagnostic characters. The updated distributional records of the species in India are also mapped.
The type materials of seven Indian Rhene species available at the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, have been studied. R. mus (Simon, 1889) is illustrated for the first time in 132 years since its first description. Eleven new synonyms and five new combinations are proposed: Zeuxippus Thorell, 1891 syn. n. with Rhene Thorell, 1869; R. biembolusa...
We describe three new species of Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 from the Deccan Plateau of India, and report on populations of S. sarojinae Caleb & Mathai, 2014 and S. marusiki Logunov, 2001. One of the new species, S. shwetamukhi Marathe, Sanap, & Maddison, sp. nov., has black-and-white markings, characteristic of several other Indian Stenaelurillus s...
A new jumping spider species, Langelurillus tertius sp. nov. (♂♀), is described from the Ajanta and Sathmala hill ranges of the Deccan plateau in Maharashtra (India). Detailed description, illustrations, and a map showing the distribution of all known Indian congeners are provided.
The book is intended to showcase the rich diversity of spiders from the scrub jungle. Scrub jungles are an integral part of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests found along the Coromandel Coast which are highly degraded and rapidly vanishing (with only 1 % of it still remaining) due to anthropogenic activities. Conserving the habitat is of prime impo...
Uloborus ferokus Bradoo, 1979 observed to be a commensal with the eresid social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch, 1892 (Bradoo 1979) were observed and collected during recent surveys in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala states of India. Detailed examination of the specimens revealed that it is misplaced in Uloborus, but rather has...
Spider diversity and composition was assessed by various field surveys in the campus and its surroundings of Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, located in foothills of Nilgiris, Western Ghats, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu from January 2019 to June 2019. Four micro-habitats identified for the study purpose were Jatropha plantati...
A new species of the jumping spider genus Carrhotus Thorell, 1891, C. tholpettyensis sp.n. is diagnosed and described from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, Kerala, India. Detailed morphological descriptions, diagnoses and illustrations of the copulatory organs of both sexes are provided. A map depicting the current distribution of the...
New distributional records of Maripanthus gloria Caleb, 2021 and Maripanthus jubatus Maddison, 2020 from southern India are reported. Diagnosis and images of both the species are provided and the updated distributional records are also mapped.
The Chinese species Araneus tubabdominus Zhu & Zhang, 1993 is recorded for the first time from India. A detailed redescription and illustrations of the female are provided along with a distributional map of the species.
Indian Megamyrmaekion and Sosticus species are revised, mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. The following new synonymies are recognised: Megamyrmaekion ashae syn. nov. is synonymised with Megamyrmaekion caudatum Reuss, 1834, Megamyrmaekion kajalae syn. nov. with Dra...
Additional distributional record of Bianor angulosus in India
The types of Marpissa tigrina Tikader, 1965 and M. kalapani Tikader, 1977 that are kept in the National Zoological collection, Zoological Survey of India (Kolkata) are re-examined and illustrated. A new combination, Epocilla aura (Dyal, 1935) comb.n. (ex. Thiania), is proposed and three new synonyms are established: Epocilla pakhtunkhwa Ali et Madd...
Two new species of the jumping spiders, Phintella cholkei sp.n. and Icius tukarami sp.n., from Maharashtra state, India are described. Their detailed morphological descriptions, diagnoses and illustrations of the copulatory organs are provided. Yet, observations on maternal care and habitat of P. cholkei sp.n. are provided as well.
Dexippus kleini Thorell 1891 is recorded for the first time from India based on a sample collected from Assam, northeastern India which is about 2600 km away from its type locality. The species is diagnosed and illustrated in detail along with notes on its natural history, and a distributional map is also provided. The present species is recorded f...
Indian wolf spider species of the genus Evippa Simon, 1882 based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata are revised. One new synonymy is recognised: Evippa mandlaensis Gajbe, 2004 syn. nov. is synonymised with Wadicosa fidelis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872). All the type material exam...
Poecilochroa taborensis syn. nov. is synonymized with Poecilochroa poonaensis comb. nov.
The Indian spider species of the genera Apodrassodes, Herpyllus and Sergiolus are revised, mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. The following new combinations are recognised: Coillina yogeshi comb. nov., transferred from Apodrassodes, Scotophaeus goaensis comb. nov....
A new species of the genus Maripanthus Maddison, 2020, M. gloria Caleb, sp. nov. (♂♀) is diagnosed and described from the Karnataka State of India. A map showing the distributional records of all known congeners is provided.
Indian species in the wolf spider genus Arctosa C.L. Koch, 1847 are revised based on the type material deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, Entomology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, and Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. Arctosa tappaensis Gajbe, 2004 is proposed as a junio...
Indian species in the genus Sphingius Thorell, 1890 are revised, mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931, S. nilgiriensis Gravely, 1931 and S. paltaensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992 are redescribed. Two new combinations and one new synonymy...
The selenopid genus Makdiops Crews & Harvey, 2011 was recently erected by Crews and Harvey (2011) with Selenops montigena Simon, 1889 as the type species. The genus represents medium-sized, usually high-altitude-dwelling spiders that can be diagnosed by the pattern of ventral spination of the anterior tibiae and metatarsi (4–3, 3–3 or 3–2) and by t...
A new jumping spider species, Chinattus prabodhi sp. nov. is described based on female specimens collected from Assam State of India. Females of the new species can be distinguished from other known congeners by the epigyne lacking a distinctive circular median pocket, the long, narrow and arching copulatory ducts, aligned posteriorly at the copula...
Indian Phaeocedus species are revised based on the type material deposited in the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford. Phaeocedus poonaensis syn. nov. is synonymised with Poecilochroa taborensis and Phaeocedus nicobarensis syn. nov. is synonymised with Pandava laminata (Titanoecidae). Two...
Asianopis goalparaensis (Tikader et Malhotra, 1978) comb.n. belonging to the liukuensis species group is redescribed on the basis of fresh specimens collected from Assam, India. Detailed illustrations, a distributional map and notes on its natural history are provided.
Two genera — Portia Karsch, 1878 and Rhene Thorell, 1869 — and six species — Myrmarachne kiboschensis Lessert, 1925, M. prava (Karsch, 1880), Plexippus clemens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872), Portia albimana (Simon, 1900), Rhene flavigera (C.L. Koch, 1846) and Thyene bivittata Xie et Peng, 1995 — are recorded from Pakistan for the first time. A map s...
Plator species described in India are revised based on the type materials deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. Five species are known in India, of which three are known only from females while the remaining two are from both sexes. All the type materials examined are imaged and redescribed.
Indian spider species currently assigned to Storena Walckenaer, 1805 are revised mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. A new genus, Laminion gen. nov. is proposed to include four species; three are transferred from Storena: Laminion arakuensis (Patel & Reddy, 1989) ge...
The spider genus Glenognatha Simon, 1887 (Tetragnathidae) currently has 34 nominal species distributed in Afrotropical region, Indo-Malaya, Nearctic, Neotropics, Oceania and Palearctic regions (Cabra-García & Brescovit 2016; World Spider Catalog 2020). It has one representative in India: Glenognatha dentata (Zhu & Wen, 1978) (World Spider Catalog 2...
Indian species of Drassyllus and Nodocion are revised, mostly based on the type material available in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. All the Indian representatives of the former genus are transferred to Cryptodrassus, with a synonymy of Drassyllus jabalpurensis syn. nov. with Cryptodrassus khajuriai comb. n...
Asemonea cristata Thorell, 1895 is redescribed on the basis of newly collected materials
from the Western Ghats region, Kerala, India. Asemonea picta Thorell, 1895 and A. santinagarensis (Biswas et Biswas, 1992) are synonymised with A. cristata. Collecting localities of A. cristata are mapped as well.
The genus Vailimia Kammerer, 2006 is recorded for the first time from India. Two new species, Vailimia ajmerensis Caleb & Jangid sp. nov. (♂), and V. jharbari Basumatary, Caleb & Das sp. nov. (♂♀), are described and illustrated in detail. Presently, the genus is known only by the males, which means that the female of V. jharbari described herein is...
The golden orb-weaving spider genus Nephila Leach, 1815 currently has four representatives in India: Nephila dirangensis Biswas & Biswas, 2006, Nephila kuhlii (Doleschall, 1859), Nephila pilipes (Fabricius, 1793) and Nephila robusta Tikader, 1962 (World Spider Catalog 2020). While N. kuhlii has its type locality in Java (Doleschall 1859) and that o...
Phintelloides manipur Caleb sp. nov. is diagnosed and described from north-eastern India. Phintelloides
versicolor (C.L. Koch, 1846) is recorded for the fi rst time from India and Myanmar. Two new combinations are
proposed: Phintelloides singhi (Monga, Singh & Sadana, 1989) comb. nov. transferred from Marpissa C.L. Koch, 1846
and Phintelloides undu...
A total of 108 species of spider species belonging to 84 genera and 25 families were identified from the scrub jungle of the Madras Christian College campus. Pagida salticiformis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1883) is recorded for the first time from India. Langona tigrina (Simon, 1885) is rediscovered 135 years since its first description and the unknown...
Three new species of the genus Carrhotus Thorell, 1891 — C. andhra Caleb sp.n. (♂), C. assam Caleb sp.n. (♂) and C. silanthi Caleb sp.n.
(♂♀) — are diagnosed and described from Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Tamil Nadu States of India respectively. A new combination is established, Carrhotus yunnanensis (Song, 1991) comb.n., ex Ptocasius. Five new synon...
A new genus of the spider family Deinopidae C.L. Koch, 1850 is described from Asia: Asianopis Lin & Li gen. nov. , with A. zhuanghaoyuni Lin & Li sp. nov. as the type species. The new genus is divided into two species groups, of which the liukuensis -group includes two species: A. dumogae (Merian, 1911) sp. reval. comb. nov. (♀) and A. liukuensis (...
‘Araneae of India’ provides an overview of the spider diversity of India. All available published taxonomic papers and distributional records are enlisted. The number of spider species known from India have risen steadily from 1067 species (Tikader, 1987), 1442 species (Siliwal et al., 2005), 1520 species (Sebastian & Peter, 2009) to 1686 species (...
This study documents the spider fauna in the vicinity of a
suburban lake (Araabath Lake) in Chennai. A total of 70 species of spiders belonging to 58 genera and 21 families were recorded. Seven species are endemic to India and six are endemic to India and Sri Lanka. Salticidae was the most dominant with 24 species belonging to 19 genera. Guild stru...