Euctenizidae

Euctenizidae
Aptostichus sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Mygalomorphae
Clade:	Avicularioidea
Family:	Euctenizidae Raven, 1985
Diversity
8 genera, 77 species

The Euctenizidae (formerly Cyrtaucheniidae subfamily Euctenizinae) are a family of mygalomorph spiders. They are now considered to be more closely related to Idiopidae.^{[ citation needed ]}

Etymology

The name comes from the Greek prefix εὖ- (eu-), meaning "valuable" or "good", which had been thought that the family Ctenizidae possess these traits. ^[1]

Biology

Many, but not all, make wafer-like doors to their burrows, while others build the cork-like doors found commonly in the true^{[ clarification needed ]} trapdoor spiders. The biology of nearly all of the species is poorly known.

Distribution

The family occurs almost exclusively in the United States and Mexico. Common U.S. genera include Myrmekiaphila , Aptostichus and Promyrmekiaphila .

Genera

Main article: List of Euctenizidae species

Promyrmekiaphila burrow entrance closed, ...

...and opened.

As of October 2020 ^[update] , the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera: ^[2]

• Apomastus Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States
• Aptostichus Simon, 1891 — United States, Mexico
• Cryptocteniza Bond & Hamilton, 2020 — United States
• Entychides Simon, 1888 — United States, Mexico
• Eucteniza Ausserer, 1875 — Mexico, United States
• Myrmekiaphila Atkinson, 1886 — United States
• Neoapachella Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States
• Promyrmekiaphila Schenkel, 1950 — United States

See also

• List of Euctenizidae species
• Spider families

Footnotes

1. Bond, J. E., B. E. Hendrixson, C. A. Hamilton & M. Hedin. (Bond et al., 2012b) - A reconsideration of the classification of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Arachnida: Araneae) based on three nuclear genes and morphology
2. "Family: Euctenizidae Raven, 1985". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2019-04-20.

References

• {Raven, Robert J. (1985): The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History182: 1–180.
• Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
• Bond, J. E. Phylogenetic treatment and taxonomic revision of the trapdoor spider genus Aptostichus Simon (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Euctenizidae). ZooKeys 252: 1–209.
• Bond, J. E., C. A. Hamilton, N. L. Garrison & C. H. Ray. Phylogenetic reconsideration of Myrmekiaphila systematics with a description of the trapdoor spider species Myrmekiaphila tigris (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Cyrtaucheniidae, Euctenizinae) from Auburn, Alabama. ZooKeys 190: 94–109.
• Bond, J. E., B. E. Hendrixson, C. A. Hamilton & M. Hedin. A reconsideration of the classification of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Arachnida: Araneae) based on three nuclear genes and morphology. PLoS One 7(6): e38753.
• Platnick, Norman I. (2014): The world spider catalog, version 14.5. American Museum of Natural History. doi : 10.5531/db.iz.0001