Theridula

{{Short description|Genus of spiders}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Theridula.gonygaster.female.1.-.tanikawa.jpg

| image_caption = Female Theridula gonygaster from Okinawa

| taxon = Theridula

| authority = Emerton, 1882

| diversity = 19 species

| diversity_link = List of Theridiidae species#Theridula

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

| range_map =

}}

Theridula is a genus of cobweb spiders, found in many (mostly tropical) parts of the world. Species vary in size from 1 to 3.5 mm in length.{{cite journal|title=The Spider Genus Theridula in North and Central America and the West Indies (Araneae: Theridiidae)|last=Levi|first=Herbert W.|journal=Transcriptions of American Microscopical Society|date=October 1954|volume=73|issue=4|pages=331–343|doi=10.2307/3223578|publisher=American Microscopical Society|jstor=3223578}}

File:Theridula angula at Kadavoor.jpg

In females, the abdomen is wider than long, with a hump or horn on each side, and sometimes a posterior median horn.{{cite book|title=The Spider Book|first=John Henry|last=Comstock|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1975|orig-year=First published 1912|pages=354–355}}{{cite journal|title=The Theridiidae or Comb-footed Spiders of Alabama|first=Allan F.|last=Archer|journal=Museum Papers of the Alabama Museum of Natural History|issue=22|year=1946|page=31}} The pedipalp in males is simple, lacking a conductor or theridioid tegular apophysis.{{cite journal|title=American Spider Genera Theridula and Paratheridula (Araneae: Theridiidae)|last=Levi|first=Herbert W.|journal=Psyche: A Journal of Entomology|year=1966|volume=73|pages=123–130|doi=10.1155/1966/12793|issue=2|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|title=Morphology and Evolution of Cobweb Spider Male Genitalia (Araneae, Theridiidae)|first=Ingi|last=Agnarsson|author2=Jonathan A. Coddington |author3=Barbara Knoflach |journal=The Journal of Arachnology|year=2007|volume=35|pages=334–395|doi=10.1636/SH-06-36.1|issue=2|s2cid=43502439|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/229016}}

Theridula spiders are frequently found on bushes or tall grass where they rest on the undersides of leaves near their webs.