Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae. They are robust and agile hunters with 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.
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 live in a very unusual location — between the tides. 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. The family Toxopidae has been separated off. 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.
The Pholcidae are a family of araneomorph spiders. The family contains more than 1,800 individual species of pholcids, including those commonly known as cellar spider, daddy long-legs spider, carpenter spider, daddy long-legger, vibrating spider, gyrating spider, long daddy, and skull spider. The family, first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850, is divided into 94 genera.
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.
Linyphiidae, spiders commonly known as sheet weavers, or money spiders is a family of very small spiders comprising 4706 described species in 620 genera worldwide. This makes Linyphiidae the second largest family of spiders after the Salticidae. The family is poorly understood due to their small body size and wide distribution; new genera and species are still being discovered throughout the world. The newest such genus is Himalafurca from Nepal, formally described in April 2021 by Tanasevitch. Since it is so difficult to identify such tiny spiders, there are regular changes in taxonomy as species are combined or divided.
Idiopidae, also known as armored or spiny trapdoor spiders, is a family of mygalomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1889.
Barychelidae, also known as brushed trapdoor spiders, is a spider family with about 300 species in 39 genera.
Prodidomidae is a family of spider, sometimes called long-spinneret ground spiders. It was formerly regarded as a subfamily of Gnaphosidae, but was raised to a family in 2022.
Synothele is a genus of Australian brushed trapdoor spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1908. The number of species in the genera was greatly expanded by Robert Raven in 1994.
Euryopis is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Anton Menge in 1868.
Ariadna is a genus of tube-dwelling spider.
Argoctenus is a genus of South Pacific long-legged sac spiders first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1878. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea. They resemble wolf spiders except for the narrowed carapace and the eye arrangement.
Gamasomorpha is a genus of goblin spiders in the family Oonopidae, containing sixty three accepted species.
Arkyidae, also known as triangular spiders, is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1872 as a subfamily of Araneidae, and later elevated to a full family in 2017.
Forsterina is a genus of South Pacific intertidal spiders that was first described by Pekka T. Lehtinen in 1967.
Baiami is a genus of Australian intertidal spiders that was first described by Pekka T. Lehtinen in 1967. Originally placed with the Stiphidiidae, it was transferred to the Desidae after the results of a 2019 genetic analysis.
Anzacia is a genus of South Pacific ground spiders that was first described by R. de Dalmas in 1919.
Proshermacha is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Anamidae. It is endemic to Australia, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1908.
Anamidae is a family of Australian mygalomorph spiders. It was first described as a tribe by Simon in 1889, then raised to the subfamily Anaminae of the family Nemesiidae, before being raised to a family level by Opatova et al. in 2020.
