Pandercetes cf. malleator – Funghi – algae gen(i)us

Pandercetes cf. malleator in Singapore, approx. 5cm leg span

This spider is a good opportunity to introduce the Word Spider Catalogue, a collection of ALL spider species including a documentation of the changes in taxonomy. Here we can count 17 Pandercetes species, and non of them is reported for Singapore. That is neither a mistake nor a sensation, it is just not noted yet. Sources for wildlife in Singapore usually call them Pandercetes spec., meaning the species is not determined. P. malleator is documented for Malaysia, many others for Indonesia. That’s why I call mine P. cf. malleator, without any further proof. Cf. means confer = compare. There are also some documents linked, one from Dr. Peter Jäger, showing details of two species.
The whole genus is considered Lichen Huntsman spiders, and here the story ends. There is almost nothing to find about those. Camouflage, yes, size rather small, OK, but then almost nothing. On Google search often P. gracilis is used for similar looking spiders.

Spider aside, here the substrate is the real star!!! Lichen, who ‘wood’ have known, is a very special life form. A bit like a coral, but here it is funghis in symbiosis with usually an algaes, but some also with cyano bacteria! That’s a macro habitat with several microorganism—geniuses, living and benefiting all together from each other. We have approx. 20000 species, and reading about them is a firework of wonders.
This paper describes lichens well, have a look and get hooked!