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The one‐palped spider genera Tidarren and Echinotheridion are more or less confined to the tropics and subtropics of the southern hemisphere, with occurrence in South America, continental Africa, Madagascar, Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, and Yemen. This comparative description of the taxonomy and biology of the one‐palped spiders in the Old World comprises altogether 22 species, of which 17 are new to science. Four new species of Tidarren are described from Yemen (T. dentigerum n. sp. ♂♀, T. gracile n. sp. ♂♀, T. konrad n. sp. ♀, and T. sheba n. sp. ♂♀), eight from mainland Africa (T. aethiops n. sp. ♀, T. afrum n. sp. ♀, T. circe n. sp. ♀, T. griswoldi n. sp. ♀, T. lanceolatum n. sp. ♀, T. perplexum n. sp. ♀, T. ubickorum n. sp. ♀, and T. usambara n. sp. ♀), and five from Madagascar (T. apartiolum n. sp. ♀, T. dasyglossa n. sp. ♀, T. ephemerum n. sp. ♂, T. horaki n. sp. ♀, and T. obtusum n. sp. ♂♀). Three new synonyms are established. Tidarren chevalieri nov. syn. is a junior synonym of T. cuneolatum. Theridion guineense Simon, 1907 nov. syn. and Theridion turrigerum Simon, 1899 nov. syn. are synonymized with Tidarren scenicum (Thorell, 1899) nov. comb. (transferred from Theridion). The following further species are reconsidered: Tidarren argo Knoflach and van Harten, 2001 from Yemen, with a first record also from Chad; T. cuneolatum (Tullgren, 1910) from mainland Africa, Yemen, and the Canary Islands; and T. levii Schmidt, 1957 and T. scenicum from mainland Africa. In addition, the three American species T. haemorrhoidale (Bertkau, 1880), T. mixtum (O. P.‐Cambridge, 1896), and T. sisyphoides (Walckenaer, 1842) are included for comparison. Thus all hitherto known Tidarren species of the world are covered. A key for the Yemeni species is provided (males and females) as well as a tentative key for the African species (females only; Madagascar included) and the American species. For T. dentigerum and T. gracile from Yemen we give a first description of the copulatory behaviour. The genus Echinotheridion, though represented by eight New World species, is known from only one species in the Old World, E. gibberosum (Kulczynski, 1899) from the Canary Islands and Madeira. Comparative notes on this endemic offshoot are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Males of Tidarren cuneolatum(Tullgren, 1910) amputate one of their palps a few hours after the penultimate moult, like T. sisyphoides(Walckenaer, 1841) from the USA (Branch, 1942). Hence adult males, which are minute, have only one palp, either left or right randomly. This palpal organ is not oversized, when compared with other small spiders. During courtship females are unusually active, signalling receptivity by continuous twanging with legs II. Males construct a mating thread. Copulation involves one insertion, which lasts ca4 min. Thus, only one receptaculum is inseminated during copulation. With the advance of insertion the male's prosoma becomes shrunken. Copulation regularly ends in mate consumption. In copulation with a virgin female the palp was inserted contralaterally. Females taken in the field had both receptacula filled with sperm and therefore were polyandrous. Re-mating was also observed in the laboratory. Remarkably the second male performed an ipsilateral insertion, if it possessed the same palp as the previous male. Probably the virgin receptaculum was recognized. Postembryonic development is rapid in males, which moult three times and mature ca 41 days after hatching from the cocoon. Females need four or five moults and ca69 days to reach maturity and then survive ca2-4 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes and compares mating behavior in several species of the Theridion varians-group. Number and duration of copulatory sequences and papal insertions; Lack of insemination; Pseudocopulation.