The Thomisidae are a family of spiders, including about 170 genera and over 2,100 species. The common name crab spider is often linked to species in this family, but is also applied loosely to many other families of spiders. Many members of this family are also known as flower spiders or flower crab spiders.
Avicularia is a genus of the family Theraphosidae containing various species of arboreal tarantulas. The genus is native to Panama, the Caribbean and tropical South America. Each species in the genus has very distinguishable pink foot pads.
Amaurobiidae is a family of three-clawed cribellate or ecribellate spiders found in crevices and hollows or under stones where they build retreats, and are often collected in pitfall traps. Unlidded burrows are sometimes quite obvious in crusty, loamy soil. They are difficult to distinguish from related spiders in other families, especially Agelenidae, Desidae and Amphinectidae. Their intra- and interfamilial relationships are contentious. According to the World Spider Catalog, 2023, the family Amaurobiidae includes 286 species in 50 genera.
Embrik Strand was an entomologist and arachnologist who classified many insect and spider species including the greenbottle blue tarantula.
Grammostola is a genus of South American tarantulas that was first described in text by Eugène Louis Simon in 1892. These medium- to large-sized spiders are native to tropical South America, and are usually brown in color, with pinkish or orangish-red hairs. The very docile Chilean rose tarantula is popular as a beginner's spider among tarantula enthusiasts.
Thianella is a possible monotypic genus of jumping spiders containing the single species, Thianella disjuncta. It was first described by Embrik Strand in 1907, and is found only on Java. Based on a male specimen, Roewer placed it close to Thiania, but his placements of salticids have often been questionable and no drawings currently exist. The name is an alteration of the salticid genus Thiania, and the species name is from Latin disiunctus "separated". The World Spider Catalog regards the genus and species names as nomina dubia.
Pterinochilus is a genus of baboon spiders that was first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1897. They are found all throughout Africa
Theridion is a genus of tangle-web spiders with a worldwide distribution. Notable species are the Hawaiian happy face spider (T. grallator), named for the iconic symbol on its abdomen, and T. nigroannulatum, one of few spider species that lives in social groups, attacking prey en masse to overwhelm them as a team.
Damastes is a genus of East African huntsman spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1880. It is classified under the family Sparassidae, though its subfamilial classification remains unclear. The subspecies Damastes coquereli affinis is a nomen dubium.
Hysterocrates is a genus of African tarantulas that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1892.
Antirrhea philoctetes, the common brown morpho or northern antirrhea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia.
Acanthoscurria is a genus of tarantulas that was first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871. They are found throughout South America including the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, plus into the Windward Islands West Indies,.
This page lists all described species of the spider family Viridasiidae accepted by the World Spider Catalog as of December 2020:
Ctenus is a genus of wandering spiders first described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1805. It is widely distributed, from South America through Africa to East Asia. Little is known about the toxic potential of the genus Ctenus; however, Ctenus medius has been shown to share some toxic properties with Phoneutria nigriventer, such as proteolytic, hyaluronidase and phospholipase activities, in addition to producing hyperalgesia and edema. The venom of C. medius also interferes with the complement system in concentrations in which the venom of P. nigriventer is inactive, indicating that some species in the genus may have a medically significant venom. The venom of C. medius interferes with the complement component 3 (C3) of the complement system; it affects the central factor of the cascades of the complement, and interferes with the lytic activity of this system, which causes stronger activation and consumption of the complement components. Unlike C. medius, the venom of P. nigriventer does not interfere with lytic activity.
Spinosatibiapalpus is a genus of tarantulas erected by Gabriel and Sherwood in 2020 for a newly discovered species and two other previously described species bearing a unique palpal bulb morphology. The name is a reference to the spines found on the fourth section of the pedipalp in adult males. This distinctive feature was also found in Pseudhapalopus species, but because it is never mentioned in the original description of that genus, Gabriel and Sherwood called into question the validity of Pseudohapalopus, and moved all its species except P. aculeatus, known only from a single male found in Bolivia in 1907. It is impossible to place P. aculeatus because the holotype was destroyed when the museum housing it was bombed during World War II, and it has been declared as nomen dubium.
