Tetrablemmidae Temporal range: | |
---|---|
Tetrablemma ziyaoensis , female | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
Class: | Arachnida |
Order: | Araneae |
Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
Family: | Tetrablemmidae O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1873 |
Diversity | |
27 genera, 142 species | |
Tetrablemmidae, sometimes called armored spiders, is a family of tropical araneomorph spiders first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1873. [1] It contains 126 described species in 29 genera from southeast Asia, with a few that occur in Africa and Central and South America. [2] Pacullidae was incorporated into this family in 1981, [3] but was later restored as a separate family in a 2016 phylogenetic study. [4]
Most species have been collected from litter and soil, including that of epiphytes. Some live in caves and show typical adaptations of cave spiders, such as loss of eyes and weak sclerotization. [5] [6] Members of Tetrablemma only have four eyes, [1] a trait in spiders only found in these and certain members of Caponiidae.
As of April 2019 [update] , the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera: [2]
Theridiidae, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, is a large family of araneomorph spiders first described by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. This diverse, globally distributed family includes over 3,000 species in 124 genera, and is the most common arthropod found in human dwellings throughout the world.
Long-jawed orb weavers or long jawed spiders (Tetragnathidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. They have elongated bodies, legs, and chelicerae, and build small orb webs with an open hub with few, wide-set radii and spirals with no signal line or retreat. Some species are often found in long vegetation near water.
Liocranidae is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1897. They are one of several groups called "sac spiders". The holarctic genus Agroeca is the best-known, but it also includes various genera of more obscure spiders that still lack a diagnosis. Two species in the North American genus Neoanagraphis are found in the extremely dry conditions in the Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. Females live in animal burrows while males wander and are the ones most often caught in pitfall traps.
Corinnidae is a family of araneomorph spiders, sometimes called corinnid sac spiders. The family, like other "clubionoid" families, has a confusing taxonomic history. Once it was a part of the large catch-all taxon Clubionidae, now very much smaller. The original members of the family are apparently similar only in that they have eight eyes arranged in two rows, conical anterior spinnerets that touch and are generally wandering predators that build silken retreats, or sacs, usually on plant terminals, between leaves, under bark or under rocks.
Myrmarachne is a genus of ant-mimicking jumping spiders that was first described by W. S. MacLeay in 1839. They are commonly called ant-mimicking spiders, but they are not the only spiders that have this attribute. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek μύρμηξ, meaning "ant", and ἀράχνη, meaning "spider".
Archaeidae, also known as assassin spiders and pelican spiders, is a spider family with about ninety described species in five genera. It contains small spiders, ranging from 2 to 8 millimetres long, that prey exclusively on other spiders. They are unusual in that they have "necks", ranging from long and slender to short and fat. The name "pelican spider" refers to these elongated jaws and necks used to catch their prey. Living species of Archaeidae occur in South Africa, Madagascar and Australia, with the sister family Mecysmaucheniidae occurring in southern South America and New Zealand.
Pacullidae is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1894. It was merged into Tetrablemmidae in 1958, then raised back to family status after a large phylogenetic study in 2017.
Tetrablemma is a widespread genus of armored spiders first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1873. It only has four eyes; an unusual trait for spiders, found only here and in some species of Caponiidae, though the two are not closely related. The eyes are large, but unequal in size, closely grouped around the center of the prosoma that rises in a somewhat of a cone shape from the abdomen. They have four closely positioned spinnerets enclosed in a corneous casing.
Brignoliella is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Tetrablemmidae that was first described by W. A. Shear in 1978.
Tetrablemma medioculatum is a species of spider of the genus Tetrablemma. The nominate subspecies is endemic to Sri Lanka. Two other subspecies can be found, both of which are endemic to India.
Ablemma is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Tetrablemmidae that was first described by Carl Friedrich Roewer in 1963.
Lamania is a genus of Southeast Asian araneomorph spiders in the family Pacullidae that was first described by Pekka T. Lehtinen in 1981. Originally placed with the armored spiders, it was moved to the Pacullidae in 2017.
Paculla is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Pacullidae that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1887. Originally placed with the Tetrablemmidae, it was transferred to the Pacullidae after a 2017 genetic study.
Sabahya is a genus of Indonesian araneomorph spiders in the family Pacullidae that was first described by Christa Laetitia Deeleman-Reinhold in 1980. As of September 2019 it contains two species, found on Borneo: S. bispinosa and S. kinabaluana. Originally placed with the Tetrablemmidae, it was moved to the Pacullidae after a 2017 genetic study.
Christa Laetitia Deeleman-Reinhold is a Dutch arachnologist. She specializes in spiders from Southeast Asia and Southern Europe, particularly cave-dwelling and tropical spiders. She donated a collection of about 25,000 Southeast Asian spiders, the largest collection of Southeast Asian spiders in existence, to the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. In addition to numerous articles, she has written the book Forest Spiders of South East Asia (2001).