| Diphya | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Tetragnathidae |
| Genus: | Diphya Nicolet, 1849 [1] |
| Type species | |
| D. macrophthalma Nicolet, 1849 | |
| Species | |
18, see text | |
Diphya is a genus of long-jawed orb-weavers that was first described by H. Nicolet in 1849. [2] D. tanasevitchi and D. albulum were transferred from Lophomma in 2007. [3]
As of March 2021 [update] it contains eighteen species, found in Asia, Africa, and South America: [1]
In synonymy:
Long-jawed orb weavers or long jawed spiders (Tetragnathidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. They have elongated bodies, legs, and chelicerae, and build small orb webs with an open hub with few, wide-set radii and spirals with no signal line or retreat. Some species are often found in long vegetation near water.
Drassodes is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Niklas Westring in 1851. They are brown, gray, and red spiders that live under rocks or bark in mostly dry habitats, and are generally 3.8 to 11.6 millimetres long, but can reach up to 20 millimetres (0.79 in) in length.
Lycosa is a genus of wolf spiders distributed throughout most of the world. Sometimes called the "true tarantula", though not closely related to the spiders most commonly called tarantulas today, Lycosa spp. can be distinguished from common wolf spiders by their relatively large size. This genus includes the European Lycosa tarantula, which was once associated with tarantism, a dubious affliction whose symptoms included shaking, cold sweats, and a high fever, asserted to be curable only by the traditional tarantella dance. No scientific substantiation of that myth is known; the venom of Lycosa spiders is generally not harmful.
Meta is a genus of long-jawed orb-weavers that was first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1835. They are often associated with caves, caverns, and recesses, earning some of them the name "cave orbweavers"
Clubiona is a genus of sac spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804.
Gnaphosa is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804. They all have a serrated keel on the retromargin of each chelicera.
Phoroncidia is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by J. O. Westwood in 1835.
Gnolus is a genus of South American orb-weaver spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1879. Originally placed with the orb-weaving spiders, it was transferred to the pirate spiders in 1993, but moved back to orb-weaver family in 2012.
Allende is a genus of South American long-jawed orb-weavers that was first described by F. Álvarez-Padilla in 2007.
Diphya wesolowskae is a species of long-jawed orb weaver in the genus Diphya that lives in South Africa. First described in 2020 by Mikhail Omelko, Yuri Marusik and Robin Lyle, the spider is small, with a typical length between 2.8 and 3.17 mm. The female is larger than the male. It has a brown to dark brown and patternless carapace, which distinguishes the species from the more common Diphya simoni. The male has an abdomen that is also brown to dark brown and has a pattern of two dark spots, although some examples have more complex, but indistinct, patterns of spots and stripes. The female has a light brown abdomen marked with large spots and stripes. The copulatory organs are distinctive to the species. The female has a epigyne that lacks pockets but has a thicker septal stem than Diphya foordi, and the male has a very long, thin projection that extends from the palpal bulb beyond the cymbium and a very short embolus.