Amaurobiidae

Last updated

Tangled nest spiders
Temporal range: Palaeogene–present
Callobius sp. on redwood (Marshal Hedin).jpg
Callobius sp.
Pimus sp. (Marshal Hedin).jpg
Pimus sp.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Amaurobiidae
Thorell, 1869
Diversity
26 genera, 202 species
Distribution.amaurobiidae.1.png

Amaurobiidae is a family of three-clawed cribellate or ecribellate spiders found in crevices and hollows or under stones where they build retreats, and are often collected in pitfall traps. Unlidded burrows are sometimes quite obvious in crusty, loamy soil. [1] [2] They are difficult to distinguish from related spiders in other families, especially Agelenidae, Desidae and Amphinectidae. Their intra- and interfamilial relationships are contentious.

Contents

In Australia, they are small to medium-sized entelegyne spiders with minimal sheet webs. [2] They are fairly common in Tasmania and nearby mainland Australia in cooler rainforest, some in caves. They are widespread but uncommon along the eastern coastline. They generally have eight similar eyes in two conservatively curved rows. They often have a calamistrum on metatarsus IV associated with a cribellum. Australian amaurobiids may be distinguished from the Amphinectidae by the absence of a pretarsal fracture and the presence of a retrocoxal hymen on coxa I. [3]

Reorganization

This family has lost and gained several genera resulting from wide-ranging DNA analysis of spider families. It lost Bakala and Manjala to Desidae, while Toxopidae took in Midgee and the monotypic genus Jamara . It also lost some of Australia's medium-sized brown spiders including Tasmabrochus , Tasmarubrius , and Teeatta ) to Macrobinidae, [4] all of which are claimed to be common in Tasmania and mainland Australia but are rarely seen or recorded. The lack of research replicability and absence of photographic proof in species and genus diagnosis has resulted in low performance in computer recognition models and citizen science platforms for these genera. [5]

Genera

As of December 2024, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera: [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolf spider</span> Family of spiders

Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, named for their robust and agile hunting skills and excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and usually do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or chasing it over short distances; others wait for passing prey in or near the mouth of a burrow. Wolf spiders resemble nursery web spiders, but wolf spiders carry their egg sacs by attaching them to their spinnerets, while the Pisauridae carry their egg sacs with their chelicerae and pedipalps. Two of the wolf spider's eight eyes are large and prominent; this distinguishes them from nursery web spiders, whose eyes are all of roughly equal size. This can also help distinguish them from the similar-looking grass spiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desidae</span> Family of spiders

Desidae is a family of spiders, some of which are known as intertidal spiders. The family is named for the genus Desis, members of which inhabit the intertidal zone. The family has been reevaluated in recent years and now includes inland genera and species as well, such as Badumna and Phryganoporus. In 2017, the family Amphinectidae was merged into Desidae and the family Toxopidae was separated from it. Those intertidal spiders that are truly marine commonly live in barnacle shells, which they seal up with silk; this allows them to maintain an air bubble during high tide. They emerge at night to feed on various small arthropods that live in the intertidal zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ground spider</span> Family of spiders

Ground spiders comprise Gnaphosidae, the seventh largest spider family with over 2,000 described species in over 100 genera distributed worldwide. There are 105 species known to central Europe, and common genera include Gnaphosa, Drassodes, Micaria, Cesonia, Zelotes and many others. They are closely related to Clubionidae. At present, no ground spiders are known to be seriously venomous to humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agelenidae</span> Family of spiders

The Agelenidae are a large family of spiders in the suborder Araneomorphae. Well-known examples include the common "grass spiders" of the genus Agelenopsis. Nearly all Agelenidae are harmless to humans, but the bite of the hobo spider may be medically significant, and some evidence suggests it might cause necrotic lesions, but the matter remains subject to debate. The most widely accepted common name for members of the family is funnel weaver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wandering spider</span> Family of spiders

Wandering spiders (Ctenidae) are a family of spiders that includes the Brazilian wandering spiders. These spiders have a distinctive longitudinal groove on the top-rear of their oval carapace similar to those of the Amaurobiidae. They are highly defensive and venomous nocturnal hunters. Wandering spiders are known to hunt large prey, for example hylid species Dendropsophus branneri. Despite their notoriety for being dangerous, only a few members of Phoneutria have venom known to be hazardous to humans, but the venoms of this family are poorly known, so all larger ctenids should be treated with caution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dictynidae</span> Family of spiders

Dictynidae is a family of cribellate, hackled band-producing spiders first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1871. Most build irregular webs on or near the ground, creating a tangle of silken fibers among several branches or stems of one plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwarf sheet spider</span> Family of spiders

Dwarf sheet spiders (Hahniidae) is a family of araneomorph spiders, first described by Philipp Bertkau in 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cribellum</span> Anatomical structure

Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stiphidiidae</span> Family of spiders

Stiphidiidae, also called sheetweb spiders, is a family of araneomorph spiders first described in 1917. Most species are medium size and speckled brown with long legs. All members of this family occur in New Zealand and Australia except for Asmea. They build a horizontal sheet-like web under rocks, hence the name "sheetweb spiders".

<i>Cambridgea</i> Genus of spiders

Cambridgea is a spider genus in the family Desidae and some of the first endemic spiders described from New Zealand. They are known for constructing large horizontal sheet webs measuring up to a square metre in larger species. Cambridgea were originally assigned to the Agelenidae by Dalmas in 1917 but were reassigned to the Stiphidiidae in 1973. Most recently, both Cambridgea and sister genus Nanocambridgea were reassigned to the Desidae, subfamily Porteriinae on the basis of molecular evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toxopidae</span> Family of spiders

Toxopidae is a small family of araneomorph spiders, first described in 1940. For many years it was sunk into Desidae as a subfamily, although doubts were expressed as to whether this was correct. A large-scale molecular phylogenetic study in 2016 led to the family being revived.

<i>Cambridgea foliata</i> Species of spider

Cambridgea foliata, commonly known as New Zealand sheet-web spider, is a species of spider in the family Desidae. These nocturnal, arboreal spiders are endemic to the North Island of New Zealand and build large horizontal sheet-webs with a large number of knock-down threads.

<i>Mamoea grandiosa</i> Species of spider

Mamoea grandiosa is a species in the spider family Desidae that is endemic to New Zealand and was first described by Ray Forster and Cecil Wilton in 1973. The holotype specimen was collected by Beverley Holloway at Solomon Island, off Stewart Island, during the 1955 Dominion Museum expedition.

<i>Cambridgea turbotti</i> Species of spider

Cambridgea turbotti is a species of spider in the family Desidae. The species was first described by Ray Forster and Cecil Louis Wilton in 1973, and is endemic to New Zealand.

References

  1. "Amaurobiidae Hackled-mesh Weavers". www.arachne.org.au. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  2. 1 2 Whyte, Robert; Anderson, Greg (June 2017). A field guide to spiders of Australia. Clayton, Vic. ISBN   9780643107083. OCLC   973390260.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. Spiders of Australia Archived 2011-11-30 at the Wayback Machine
  4. https://wsc.nmbe.ch/family/165/Macrobunidae
  5. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=418864
  6. "Family: Amaurobiidae Thorell, 1870". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2024-12-23.