''Agelenopsis'', commonly known as the American grass spiders, is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of funnel weavers first described by C.G. Giebel in 1869. They weave sheet

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

s that have a funnel shelter on one edge. The web is not sticky, but these spiders make up for that shortcoming by running very rapidly. The larger specimens (depending on species) can grow to about 19 mm in body length. They may be recognized by the arrangement of their eight eyes into three rows. The top row has two eyes, the middle row has four eyes, and the bottom row has two eyes (spaced wider than the ones on the top row). They have two prominent hind

spinneret A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...

s, somewhat indistinct bands on their legs, and two dark bands running down either side of the cephalothorax.

Name

The genus name is a combination of ''

Agelena Agelena is a genus of agelenid spiders first described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1805. Sometimes referred to as Eurasian grass spiders, they trap their prey by weaving entangling non-sticky funnel webs. They are limited to the Old world, ...

'' (Eurasian grass spiders), a genus of similar

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, 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 ...

s, and Greek ''-opsis'' "to look like". They are harmless spiders. Although most spiders use their webs to catch prey, the grass spider's web lacks adhesive ability. The spiders make up for that with their fast running. Grass spiders coupling

The main distinction between ''Agelenopsis'' and the related European genus ''Agelena'' consists of the pattern appearing on the cephalothorax; the former possesses two quasiparallel lines from the eyes to the beginning of the abdomen. The latter genus has curved, irregular lines that often meet at the end. Another difference is the length of the front legs row in females, but in males, the similarities are not as in line.

Species

it contains fourteen species: *'' Agelenopsis actuosa'' (Gertsch & Ivie, 1936) – common American grass spider - USA, Canada *'' Agelenopsis aleenae'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – USA *''

Agelenopsis aperta ''Agelenopsis aperta'', also known as the desert grass spider or funnel-web spider, is a species of spider belonging to the family Agelenidae and the genus ''Agelenopsis''. It is found in dry and arid regions across the southern United States ...

'' (Gertsch, 1934) – desert grass spider - USA, Mexico *'' Agelenopsis emertoni'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – USA *'' Agelenopsis kastoni'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1941) – USA *'' Agelenopsis longistyla'' (Banks, 1901) – USA *'' Agelenopsis naevia'' (Walckenaer, 1841) – USA, Canada *'' Agelenopsis oklahoma'' (Gertsch, 1936) – USA, Canada *'' Agelenopsis oregonensis'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – USA, Canada *'' Agelenopsis pennsylvanica'' (C. L. Koch, 1843) – USA, Canada *'' Agelenopsis potteri'' (Blackwall, 1846) – North America. Introduced to Ukraine, Russia (Europe, Far East), Kyrgyzstan *'' Agelenopsis riechertae'' (Bosco & Chuang, 2018) – USA *'' Agelenopsis spatula'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935) – USA *'' Agelenopsis utahana'' (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933) – USA, Canada

Gallery

Agelenidae male 17mm.jpg, ''Agelenopsis sp.'' male, 17 mm (about inch) Agelenidae male palps 17mm.jpg, Same, showing elaborate pedipalps Agelenidae male side.jpg, Same, from the side Barronopsis female PEM.jpg, ''Agelenopsis'' sp. showing pronounced leg spines Spider in corner.jpg, ''Agelenopsis'' in its web Grass Spider on Long Island Maine Aug 2008.jpg, ''Agelenopsis'' in web built on grass, with prey Grass Spider DGER.jpg, ''A. pennsylvanica'' female in web PXL 20211007 221948186.jpg, ''Agelenopsis'' under a magnifying glass

Name

Species

Gallery

See also