Paratheridula

{{Short description| Monotypic genus of spiders}}

{{Speciesbox

| taxon = Paratheridula perniciosa

| authority = (Keyserling, 1886)

| parent_authority = Levi, 1957

}}

Paratheridula is a monotypic genus of comb-footed spiders containing the single species, Paratheridula perniciosa. The sole species was first described in 1886 under the name Theridion perniciosum.{{cite book| last=Keyserling| first=E.| year=1886| title=Die Spinnen Amerikas. Theridiidae| publisher=Bauer & Raspe, Nürnberg| page=233| author-link=Eugen von Keyserling}} The genus was first described by Herbert Walter Levi in 1957,{{cite journal| last=Levi| first=H. W.| year=1957| title=The North American spider genera Paratheridula, Tekellina, Pholcomma and Archerius (Araneae: Theridiidae)| journal=Transactions of the American Microscopical Society| pages=105–115| volume=76| issue=2| doi=10.2307/3223625| jstor=3223625| author-link=Herbert Walter Levi| url=http://psyche2.entclub.org/articles/73/73-123.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021635/http://psyche2.entclub.org/articles/73/73-123.pdf| url-status=dead| archive-date=2007-09-27}} though it has been described under several different names, including Mysmena 4-maculata,{{cite journal| last=Banks| first=N.| year=1896| title=New North American spiders and mites| journal=Transactions of the American Entomological Society| volume=23| page=66| author-link=Nathan Banks}} Theridion quadrimaculatum,{{cite journal| last=Bryant| first=E. B.| year=1933| title=New and little known spiders from the United States| journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology| volume=74| page=173}} and Theridion arcadicum,{{cite journal| last1=Gertsch| first1=W. J.| last2=Archer| first2=A. F.| year=1942| title=Descriptions of new American Theridiidae| journal=American Museum Novitates| issue=1171| page=4| author-link=Willis J. Gertsch| author-link2=Allan Frost Archer}}

It has been found from Florida to southern Chile, with a possible pantropical distribution,{{cite journal| title=Gen. Paratheridula Levi, 1957| website=World Spider Catalog Version 20.0| accessdate=2020-06-30| year=2020| publisher=Natural History Museum Bern| url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/3521| doi=10.24436/2| last1=Gloor| first1=Daniel| last2=Nentwig| first2=Wolfgang| last3=Blick| first3=Theo| last4=Kropf| first4=Christian}} and is suspected to have been introduced elsewhere.