A Field Guide to the Spider Genera of India

A field guide to the Spider Genera of India is an illustrative guide for 350 spider genera reported from India. This book is for all ages and experience levels, from children to adults and amateurs to experienced researchers.

Features:

• More than 1,100 color photographs and drawings depicting the vast diversity of Indian spiders
• Comparative drawings of several genera
• Descriptions of  350 genera belonging to 63 families
• A brief introduction about the morphology of spiders
• An overview of the phylogenetic relationships of the major lineages
• Spider families organized by clades
• Brief notes about natural history

Originally, our intention was to create a field guide for the roughly 2000 spider species found in India, but while this would be an exciting book to have, we gradually realized that the scientific descriptions of many spiders from India need revisionary treatments. Therefore, we decided to restrict ourselves to take a small step. As the title suggests, this book focuses on the spider genera which can be identifiable using photographs and descriptions. For a few spiders, we provide interesting natural history observations known for their respective relatives from the Neotropics, Africa, Australia, etc. This gives us the opportunity to record if those behaviors are shared by their siblings in our portion of the Gondwana.

The goal of this book is to encourage the reader to appreciate and understand the incredible diversity of spiders, both in India and the world beyond. As you observe spiders in the wild, please take notes, search on citizen science portals for similar observations, build a database and help us all understand more about these mysterious creatures!