Pandercetes

{{Short description| Genus of spiders}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Pandercetes

| image = Bark_spider.jpg

| image_caption = Pandercetes cf. celatus from the Western Ghats showing typical cryptic patterning

| authority = L. Koch, 1875

| type_species = P. gracilis

| type_species_authority = L. Koch, 1875

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = 16, see text

}}

Pandercetes is a genus of huntsman spiders that was first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in his 1875 treatise on Australian spiders.{{cite book| last=Koch| first=L.| year=1875| title=Die Arachniden Australiens| publisher=Nürnberg 1| pages=577–740| author-link=Ludwig_Carl_Christian_Koch}} They are mainly distributed in tropical Asia and Australia, and are known for their cryptic coloration that matches local moss and lichen. Their legs have lateral hairs, giving them a feathery appearance, further masking their outline against tree trunks. Their head is somewhat elevated and the carapace has the thoracic region low and flat.{{cite book| title=The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Arachnida| author=Pocock, R.I.| year=1909| publisher= Taylor and Francis| place=London|pages=259–265| url=https://archive.org/stream/arachnida00poco#page/264/mode/2up}}

The genus is characterized by the internal anatomy of the reproductive structures. Males have irregular coils at the terminal end, while females have screw like copulatory ducts.{{cite journal |url= http://www.senckenberg.de/files/content/forschung/abteilung/terrzool/arachnologie/heteropodinae_jaeger_2002.pdf |title= Heteropodinae: Transfers and Synonymies (Arachnida: Araneae : Sparassidae)| author= Jäger, Peter| journal =Acta Arachnologica| volume=51| issue=1| pages=33–61 |year=2002|doi= 10.2476/asjaa.51.33}}