On the discovery of a new polymorphic Happy-Face Spider (Araneae, Theridiidae) from the Western Himalayas, India, with notes on its natural history Author Tripathy, Ashirwad 0000-0001-7772-2616 Forest Entomology Discipline, Forest Protection Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248006, India Author Priyadarshini, Devi 0000-0002-3212-3350 Regional Museum of Natural History, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751013, India text Evolutionary Systematics 2026 2026-04-24 10 1 63 84 journal article 315028 10.3897/evolsyst.10.174338 f9e8344e-cb01-4182-9810-8b9d6177a62c BF9B268B-2629-4228-91D6-6B9FE9464030

Table 3. Comparative diagnosis of genitalia characters in different Theridion species.

Species vs. Character	CD	FD	CD – Spermatheca	Genitalia shape	CD opening	FD – CD direction	Morph No. s
Theridion himalayana sp. nov.	CD is curved protruding into a hook shape facing each other and parallely terminates downwards	FD Short direted upwards away from each other making a V shape	CD longer and protruding	Sew hook type	Below the spermatheca facing downwards	Directed in opposite direction	30 +
Theridion odisha	CD is long and ‘ S’ shaped terminating in an oval loop	FD short directed upwards and inclined towards each other	CD longer and coiled in S shape	Frog faced	Facing each other making an oval loop	Directed parallel to each other	0
Theridion bengalensis	CD small, slender and directed away from each other	FD is short broader at base and tapering towards the tip.	CD is shorter than spermatheca	Kidney shaped	Opening not facing each other towards opposite sides	FD directed away from spermatheca	0
Theridion melanostictum	CD very long and highly coiled.	FD relatively shorter directed downwards with sickel shaped tip	CD very long and spermatheca very small	Highly coiled	Directed towards each other	Oriented in same direction	0
Theridion zonulatum	CD short facing downwards without coiling	Small directed upward making a loop	CD smaller than spermatheca	Club shaped	Opening downwards directed towards each other	Oppositely downwards	0
Theridion grallator	CD short curved and directed downwards converging at the opening	FD directed downwards parallel to spermatheca	Spermatheca longer	Bow tie type	CD opening faces downwards	Directed in same direction	20 +