| Micrommata virescens | |
|---|---|
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| Male of Micrommata virescens | |
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| Female of Micrommata virescens | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Sparassidae |
| Genus: | Micrommata |
| Species: | M. virescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Micrommata virescens | |
| Synonyms | |
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Micrommata virescens, common name green huntsman spider, is a species of huntsman spiders belonging to the family Sparassidae.
This species has a Palearctic distribution. [3] It occurs naturally in Northern and Central Europe, including Denmark and southern Britain. [4] [5] [6]
In the females of Micrommata virescens, the body length can reach 12–16 millimetres (0.47–0.63 in), while in the males it is about 7–10 millimetres (0.28–0.39 in). [7]
The cephalothorax and the long legs of the females are bright green, with a lighter green abdomen showing a darker green median stripe. The eight eyes are arranged in two rows and surrounded by white hairs. [4] Males are dark green-olive and have a narrower abdomen, with red sides and a red to red-brown median stripe bordered yellow. [8] Young spiders have a yellow-brown cephalothorax, with dark marginal and median stripes. Only after the last molting in the following spring the juveniles assume the typical coloration of the adults.
The green coloration is due to the bilin micromatabilin [9] and its conjugates in haemolymph, interstitial tissues and the yolk of oocytes. [10]
These characteristic huntsman spiders can be found at the edges of forests, in dry meadows, in damp woodland clearings and rides, where they prefer grass and the lower branches of trees. [8]
These spiders are mainly diurnal. Like many other spiders, they do not build a web, and hunt insects in green vegetation, where they rely on their camouflage. Their green color makes them very difficult to be detected by predators. [8] They grow relatively slowly, taking 18 months to reach maturity. [4] Females are fertile from May through to September. A few days after mating, the males die. In July, the females enclose the egg-sac into a few leaves stitched together. [6] Cocoons are guarded by females. After about 4 weeks, eggs hatch about 40-50 young spiders. [4]
Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae, are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometimes are referred to as wood spiders, because of their preference for woody places. In southern Africa the genus Palystes are known as rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders. Commonly, they are confused with baboon spiders from the Mygalomorphae infraorder, which are not closely related.
The spider family Liphistiidae was first recognized by Tamerlan Thorell in 1869. When narrowly circumscribed, it comprises a single genus Liphistius, native to Southeast Asia; as of April 2024, this was the circumscription accepted by the World Spider Catalog. The family contains the most basal living spiders, belonging to the suborder Mesothelae. The family has also been circumscribed more broadly to include the family Heptathelidae as a subfamily, Heptathelinae, with the narrowly circumscribed Liphistiidae becoming the subfamily Liphistiinae.
Araneus quadratus, the four-spot orb-weaver, is a common orb-weaver spider found in Europe and Central Asia, and as far as the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan. Females can reach 17 mm in length, especially when gravid, with males around half that. They are quite variable in appearance, ranging from brown to bright orange or green, but they always have the characteristic four white spots on the abdomen. The darker color morphs are easier to identify, due to the contrast between the white spots and the rest of the body. The legs are sometimes brightly striped.
Ommochrome refers to several biological pigments that occur in the eyes of crustaceans and insects. The eye color is determined by the ommochromes. Ommochromes are also found in the chromatophores of cephalopods, and in spiders.
Misumena vatia is a species of crab spider with a holarctic distribution. In North America, it is called the goldenrod crab spider or flower (crab) spider, as it is commonly found hunting in goldenrod sprays and milkweed plants. They are called crab spiders because of their unique ability to walk sideways as well as forwards and backwards. Both males and females of this species progress through several molts before reaching their adult sizes, though females must molt more to reach their larger size. Females can grow up to 10 mm (0.39 in) while males are quite small, reaching 5 mm (0.20 in) at most. Misumena vatia are usually yellow or white or a pattern of these two colors. They may also present with pale green or pink instead of yellow, again, in a pattern with white. They have the ability to change between these colors based on their surroundings through the molting process. They have a complex visual system, with eight eyes, that they rely on for prey capture and for their color-changing abilities. Sometimes, if Misumena vatia consumes colored prey, the spider itself will take on that color.
The nursery web spider Pisaura mirabilis is a spider species of the family Pisauridae.
Micrommata is a genus of huntsman spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804.
Diaea dorsata is one of the smaller crab spiders, with a palearctic distribution. Females can grow up to 6 mm, males up to 4 mm. Prosoma and legs are green, the opisthosoma is yellowish with a brown mark.
Peucetia viridans, the green lynx spider, is a bright-green lynx spider usually found on green plants. It is the largest North American species in the family Oxyopidae. This spider is common in the southern U.S., Mexico, Central America, and in many West Indies islands, especially Jamaica. Lynx spiders are hunters specialized for living on plants. This species does not use a web to capture its prey. It pounces on its prey in a cat-like manner, which is the reason for the name lynx. It is active during the day.
Gasteracantha fornicata is a species of spiny orb-weavers found in Queensland Australia. It is similar in shape to Austracantha minax which was originally described as Gasteracantha minax. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775, the first Australian species of spider to be named and classified.
Bilins, bilanes or bile pigments are biological pigments formed in many organisms as a metabolic product of certain porphyrins. Bilin was named as a bile pigment of mammals, but can also be found in lower vertebrates, invertebrates, as well as red algae, green plants and cyanobacteria. Bilins can range in color from red, orange, yellow or brown to blue or green.
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every land habitat. As of November 2023, 51,673 spider species in 136 families have been recorded by taxonomists. However, there has been debate among scientists about how families should be classified, with over 20 different classifications proposed since 1900.
The book Svenska Spindlar or Aranei Svecici is one of the major works of the Swedish arachnologist and entomologist Carl Alexander Clerck and was first published in Stockholm in the year 1757. It was the first comprehensive book on the spiders of Sweden and one of the first regional monographs of a group of animals worldwide. The full title of the work is Svenska Spindlar uti sina hufvud-slägter indelte samt under några och sextio särskildte arter beskrefne och med illuminerade figurer uplyste – Aranei Svecici, descriptionibus et figuris æneis illustrati, ad genera subalterna redacti, speciebus ultra LX determinati, and included 162 pages of text and six colour plates. It was published in Swedish, with a Latin translation printed in a slightly smaller font below the Swedish text.
Eusparassus is a genus of huntsman spiders, known as the stone huntsman spiders, it was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1903.
Micrommata ligurina is a species of huntsman spider. It was first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1845.
Micromatabilin, the green pigment of the spider species Micrommata virescens, is characterized as a mixture of biliverdin conjugates. The two isolated fractions have identical absorption bands. Chromic acid degradation yields imides I, II, IIIa, and IIIb. Differences in the non-hydrolytic degradation and in polarity lead to the conclusion that fraction 1 is a monoconjugate and fraction 2a diconjugate of biliverdin.
Langona manicata is a species of jumping spider in the genus Langona that lives in South Africa. The spider was first described by Eugène Simon in 1901. It is large, between 6 and 38 mm long, the female larger than the male. The female has a white-grey cephalothorax with a stripe down the middle while the male has a black cephalothorax. The female also has a stripe of its abdomen, which the male lacks. It is hard to differentiate from other Langona spiders, particularly Langona avara. The main distinguishing characteristic is the colour of the hairs on the single apophysis on the male pedipalp.
Nigorella aethiopica is the type species of the genus Nigorella. A jumping spider that lives in Ethiopia and named in honour of the country in which it is found, it was first described in 2008 by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz. The spider is larger than others in the species with a cephalothorax that is between 4.1 and 4.8 mm long and an abdomen that is between 4.3 and 5.6 mm long. The carapace is generally brown and hairy, although the male is darker. While the male abdomen is marked by a light stripe on the topside and dots underneath, the female abdomen has a pattern of a light stripe and patches on the top and dark stripes on the bottom. As well as the larger size, there is a split at the end of the appendage on the pedipalp tibia that marks out the male, and the female has longer seminal ducts and thinner spermathecae than others in the genus.
Icius minimus is a species of jumping spider in the genus Icius that lives in Ethiopia. It was first described in 2008 by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz. The spider is small, with a cephalothorax between 1.5 and 2.3 mm long and an abdomen 1.8 and 3.3 mm long. The male is smaller than the female, as is recalled in the species name. The spider is similar to the related Icius pulchellus but has a distinctive pattern on the abdomen. The male abdomen is brown with two white stripes fringed with black lines. The female has a large white patch and a pattern of wide stripes, mostly interrupted. The male tibial apophysis is also unusual, being short and shaped like a spatula. The female has longer receptacles than other spiders in the genus.
Diminutella is a genus of spiders in the family Sparassidae. It was first described in 2018 by Rheims and Alayón. It is a monotypic genus with one described species, Diminutella cortina. It is endemic to Pinar del Rio, Cuba.
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