Tube-dwelling spider

Not to be confused with Arbanitis robertsi.

Tube-dwelling spiders
Temporal range: Eocene–present
Segestria florentina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Segestriidae
Simon, 1893
Diversity
5 genera, 160 species

Tube-dwelling spiders (Segestriidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1893.[1] It consists of five genera, two large and widespread, Segestria and Ariadna, and three smaller genera, Citharoceps, Gippsicola and Indoseges.[2] They are haplogyne spiders, related to the Dysderidae and placed in clade or superfamily Dysderoidea.

Members of this family are easily recognized because their first three pairs of legs are arranged forward instead of two and they have six eyes instead of eight, arranged in a semicircle.[1] The leg structure appears to be an adaptation for living in silken tubes. Unlike those of the atypical tarantulas, these tubes may branch and are often built in tree bark fissures, as well as under stones.

Both Segestria and Ariadna live in North America, South America, Eurasia, Africa and New Zealand, though Ariadna also lives in Australia.[2]

Genera

Main article: List of Segestriidae species

As of July 2021, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera:[2]

  • Ariadna Audouin, 1826—South America, Europe, North America, Oceania, Africa, Asia, Central America, Dominican Republic
  • Citharoceps Chamberlin, 1924—United States, Mexico
  • Gippsicola Hogg, 1900—Australia
  • Indoseges Siliwal, Das, Choudhury & Giroti, 2021—India
  • Segestria Latreille, 1804—Asia, North America, Europe, South America, Africa, New Zealand

The oldest unambiguous members of the family are known from the Eocene Baltic amber.[3] Cretaceous taxa Denticulsegestria, Jordansegestria, Jordariadna, Lebansegestria, Microsegestria, Myansegestria, Palaeosegestria and Parvosegestria, originally described as tube-dwelling spiders, might be members of the stem group of Segestriidae or stem dysderoids instead.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Simon, E. (1893). Histoire naturelle das araignées. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51973.
  2. ^ a b c "Family: Segestriidae Simon, 1893". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  3. ^ a b Magalhaes, I. L. F.; Azevedo, G. H. F.; Michalik, P.; Ramírez, M. J. (2020). "The fossil record of spiders revisited: implications for calibrating trees and evidence for a major faunal turnover since the Mesozoic". Biological Reviews. 95 (1): 184–217. doi:10.1111/brv.12559. PMID 31713947.