Miturgidae

Long-legged sac spiders Temporal range: Palaeogene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Mituliodon tarantulinus
male Miturga albopunctata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Miturgidae Simon, 1886
Diversity
33 genera, c. 200 species
blue: reported countries (WSC) green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist)
Synonyms [1]
Zoridae F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1893

Miturgidae is a family of araneomorph spiders that includes about 200 species in 33 genera worldwide. ^[1]

First described by Eugène Simon in 1886, ^[2] it has been substantially revised, and includes the previous family Zoridae as a synonym, ^[3] and excludes the family Xenoctenidae. ^[4] Several genera have also been removed, such as the large genus Cheiracanthium , which was transferred to the Cheiracanthiidae. ^[5]

Description

Spiders of the Miturgidae family are small-to-medium sized spiders, with most genera possessing a brown and gray band pattern on the spider's body. ^[6]

Behavior

Miturgidae spiders are nocturnal. They live on the ground or on foliage, where they build a sac-like shelter on vegetation or under rocks or other debris. Mother spiders will deposit and protect her eggs in these shelters.

Genera

Main article: List of Miturgidae species

As of January 2026 ^[update] , this family includes 33 genera and 193 species: ^[1]

• Argoctenus L. Koch, 1878 – Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand
• Coryssiphus Simon, 1903 – South Africa
• Diaprograpta Simon, 1909 – Australia
• Elassoctenus Simon, 1909 – Australia
• Eupograpta Raven, 2009 – Australia
• Hestimodema Simon, 1909 – Australia
• Israzorides Levy, 2003 – Israel
• Knotodo Raven, 2023 – Australia
• Mituliodon Raven & Stumkat, 2003 – Australia, Timor
• Miturga Thorell, 1870 – Australia
• Miturgiella Raven, 2023 – Australia
• Miturgopelma Raven, 2023 – Australia
• Mitzoruga Raven, 2009 – Australia
• Nuliodon Raven, 2009 – Australia
• Odomasta Simon, 1909 – Australia
• Palicanus Thorell, 1897 – Réunion, Seychelles, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, India
• Parapostenus Lessert, 1923 – Lesotho, South Africa
• Prochora Simon, 1886 – Algeria, Asia, Italy
• Pseudoceto Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil
• Septsigilla H. B. Zhang & F. Zhang, 2025 – China
• Simonus Ritsema, 1881 – Australia
• Syrisca Simon, 1886 – DR Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Senegal, Argentina, Colombia
• Syspira Simon, 1895 – Dominican Rep, Mexico, United States
• Systaria Simon, 1897 – Asia, Vanuatu
• Tamin Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 – Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo
• Teminius Keyserling, 1887 – Mexico, United States, Argentina, Paraguay, Greater Antilles to Argentina
• Thasyraea L. Koch, 1878 – Australia
• Tuxoctenus Raven, 2008 – Australia
• Xantharia Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 – China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam
• Xeromiturga Raven, 2023 – Australia
• Xistera Raven, 2023 – Australia
• Zealoctenus Forster & Wilton, 1973 – New Zealand
• Zora C. L. Koch, 1847 – Algeria, Asia, Europe, North America

References

1. "Family Miturgidae Simon, 1886". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2026-01-17.
2. Simon, E. (1886). "Etudes arachnologiques. 18e Mémoire. XXVI. Matériaux pour servir à la faune des Arachnides du Sénégal. (Suivi d'une appendice intitulé: Descriptions de plusieurs espèces africaines nouvelles)". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 6 (5): 345–396.
3. Ramírez, Martín (2014). "The morphology and phylogeny of Dionychan spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 390: 1–374. doi:10.1206/821.1. hdl: 11336/18066 . S2CID   86146467.
4. Wheeler, W. C.; et al. (2017). "The spider tree of life: phylogeny of Araneae based on target-gene analyses from an extensive taxon sampling". Cladistics. 33 (6): 576–616. doi: 10.1111/cla.12182 . PMID   34724759. S2CID   35535038.
5. Murphy, J. A.; Roberts, M. J. (2015). Spider families of the world and their spinnerets. British Arachnological Society.
6. Chen, Shyh-hwang; Huang, Wen-Jean (May 2012). The Spider Fauna of Taiwan. National Taiwan Normal University. p. 5. ISBN   9789577526687.

External links

• Citizen science observations for Miturgidae at iNaturalist