title: Box kite spider
text: # Box kite spider
  
  Box kite spiders (Isoxya) is a genus of Afrotropical orb-weaver spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1885. Like the spiny orb-weavers they have six prominent (but short) spines on their abdomen. They are small spiders, measuring 3 to 7 millimetres (0.12 to 0.28 in) across. They have a sclerotised (or porcelain-like) abdomen which is typical of the Gasteracanthinae.
  
  ## Species
  
  As of April 2019 it contains sixteen species:
  
  * Isoxya basilewskyi Benoit & Emerit, 1975 – Rwanda, Congo
  * Isoxya cicatricosa (C. L. Koch, 1844) – Central, East, Southern Africa, Yemen
  * Isoxya cowani (Butler, 1883) – Madagascar
  * Isoxya mahafalensis Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
  * Isoxya milloti Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar
  * Isoxya mossamedensis Benoit, 1962 – Angola
  * Isoxya mucronata (Walckenaer, 1841) – Central, Southern Africa
  * Isoxya nigromutica (Caporiacco, 1939) – East Africa
  * Isoxya penizoides Simon, 1887 – West, Central, East Africa
  * Isoxya reuteri (Lenz, 1886) – Madagascar
  * Isoxya semiflava Simon, 1887 – West, Central Africa
  * Isoxya somalica (Caporiacco, 1940) – Somalia
  * Isoxya stuhlmanni (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Central, East, Southern Africa
  * Isoxya tabulata (Thorell, 1859) – Central, East, Southern Africa
  * Isoxya testudinaria (Simon, 1901) – West, Central, East Africa
  * Isoxya yatesi Emerit, 1973 – South Africa
  