Cryptachaea is a genus of spiders in the Theridiidae (tangle web spider) family.

Taxonomy

Many species in this genus used to reside in Achaearanea, which received a major revision in 2008 by Hajime Yoshida. The genus was originally established as a subgenus of Theridion.

Distribution

This is mostly a New World genus, with many species in South America. One species is cosmopolitan, one species occurs in the whole Palearctic, another only in China. C. veruculata was introduced to Europe from New Zealand.

Name

The genus name is a combination of Achaea, the old name of the genus Achaearanea, and Ancient Greek κρυπτός "hidden". The genus is called Iwama-himegumo zoku in Japanese.

Species