Diagnoses of genera of South East Asia:: Ballus (5-6; ?). There
has been no further information since 1914, concerning a single specimen from
Myanmar described by Petrunkevitch. The description is scant, the figures schematic
and could refer to a related genus. Typically Ballus is a small, squat
spider. The carapace is a broad oval, almost as wide as long, flat on top with
the sides and back almost vertical. The surface is rugose. The abdomen is shield-shaped
with the anterior broadly truncated. The femora, patellae and tibiae on leg
1 of the male are swollen and there is a fringe below the tibiae. The spider
is often entirely mottled dark brown in colour, although some species are much
less drably coloured. Distribution: In the main Ballus has a
palaearctic distribution, but there are odd records from Sri Lanka, Myanmar
and the USA. Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273. By
courtesy of the Authors' and the Malaysian Nature Society.
Copyright © for the page by J. Proszynski, 1999.