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Mygalomorphae
The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to them forming trapdoors over their burrows. Other prominent groups include Australian funnel web spiders and tarantulas, with the latter accounting for around one third of all mygalomorphs. Description This group of spiders comprises mostly heavy-bodied, stout-legged spiders including tarantulas, Australian funnel-web spiders, mouse spiders, and various families of spiders commonly called trapdoor spiders. Like the " primitive" suborder of spiders Mesothelae, they have two pairs of book lungs, and downward-pointing chelicerae. Because of this, the two groups were once believed to be closely related. Later it was realized that the common ancestors of all spiders had these features (a state known as symplesiomorphy). Following the branching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 diversity among all orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every land habitat. , 50,356 spider species in 132 families have been recorded by taxonomists. However, there has been debate among scientists about how families should be classified, with over 20 different classifications proposed since 1900. Anatomically, spiders (as with all arachnids) differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax or prosoma, and the opisthosoma, or abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel, however, as there is currently neither paleontological nor embryological evidence that spiders ever had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Funnel-web Spider
Atracidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders, commonly known as Australian funnel-web spiders or atracids. It has been included as a subfamily of the Hexathelidae, but is now recognized as a separate family. All members of the family are native to Australia. Atracidae consists of three genera: ''Atrax'', ''Hadronyche'', and ''Illawarra'', comprising 35 species. Some members of the family produce venom that is dangerous to humans, and bites by spiders of six of the species have caused severe injuries to victims. The bites of the Sydney funnel-web spider (''Atrax robustus'') and northern tree-dwelling funnel-web spider (''Hadronyche formidabilis'') are potentially deadly, but no fatalities have occurred since the introduction of modern first-aid techniques and antivenom. Description Spiders in the family Atracidae are medium to large in size, with body lengths ranging from 1 to 5 cm (0.4 to 2.0 in), with one exceptional specimen reaching 8 cm (3.1 in). They have a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mouse Spider
''Missulena'' is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Actinopodidae. It was first described by Charles Walckenaer in 1805, and is a senior synonym of ''Eriodon''. ''M. tussulena'' is found in Chile, but the rest are indigenous to Australia. They are sometimes referred to as "mouse spiders" from the now-disproven belief that they dig deep burrows similar to those of mice. '' Scotophaeus blackwalli'' is also called a "mouse spider", but it is smaller and not closely related. Description These spiders are medium to large in size, ranging from . They have a glossy carapace and high, broad heads with eyes spread out across the front of the head, and short spinnerets in the rear of the abdomen. They mostly prey on insects, though they may consume other small animals as opportunity presents. Their primary predators include wasps, centipedes, and scorpions. These spiders also exhibit sexual dimorphism. Females are entirely black, while males coloration is specific to each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although many other members of the same infraorder ( Mygalomorphae) are commonly referred to as "tarantulas" or "false tarantulas". Some of the more common species have become popular in the exotic pet trade. Many New World species kept as pets have setae known as urticating hairs that can cause irritation to the skin, and in extreme cases, cause damage to the eyes. Overview Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate that relies on an exoskeleton for muscular support.Pomeroy, R. (2014, February 4). Pub. Real Clear Science, "Spiders, and Their Amazing Hydraulic Legs and Genitalia". Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/02/spiders-their-amazing-hydraulic-legs-and-genitals.html. Like other Arachnida, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesothelae
The Mesothelae are a suborder of spiders (order Araneae) that includes a single extant family, Liphistiidae, and a number of extinct families. This suborder is thought to form the sister group to all other living spiders, and to retain ancestral characters, such as a segmented abdomen with spinnerets in the middle and two pairs of book lungs. Members of Liphistiidae are medium to large spiders with eight eyes grouped on a tubercle. They are found only in China, Japan, and southeast Asia. The oldest known Mesothelae spiders are known from the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. The Heptathelidae were once considered their own family; today they are considered a subfamily of the Liphistiidae. Description Members of Mesothelae have paraxial chelicerae, two pairs of coxal glands on the legs, eight eyes grouped on a nodule, two pairs of book lungs, and no endites on the base of the pedipalp. Most have at least seven or eight spinnerets near the middle of the abdomen. Latera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missulena Bradleyi
''Missulena bradleyi,'' also known as the eastern mouse spider, is a species of spider belonging to the family Actinopodidae. The spider is endemic to the eastern coast of Australia. William Joseph Rainbow described the eastern mouse spider in 1914 from a specimen collected in North Sydney by Henry Houghton Burton Bradley (1845–1918), president of the board of trustees of the Australian Museum at the time. Describing the "beautiful and strikingly marked" specimen as a "decided novelty", Rainbow named it in honour of its collector, whom he stated was the first collector of Australian spiders. Eastern mouse spiders are often mistaken for Australian funnel-web spiders. The females are large and very strong, with powerful chelicerae.Missulena bradleyi Rainbow, 1914 Bradley's Mouse Spider http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2587 Their fangs often cross over slightly, while those of Australian funnel-web spiders remain parallel, and the latter often have a drop of venom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avicularioidea
Avicularioidea is a clade of mygalomorph spiders, one of the two main clades into which mygalomorphs are divided (the other being the Atypoidea). It has been treated at the rank of superfamily. Taxonomy The division of the Mygalomorphae into two clades, Atypoidea and Avicularioidea, has been established in many studies. Avicularioidea has been treated as a superfamily (at one time including all mygalomorph spiders), although other authors have placed superfamilies, such as Theraphosoidea, within Avicularioidea. The name is based on the family name "Aviculariidae", a junior synonym of Theraphosidae, ultimately deriving from the genus ''Avicularia''. The Atypoidea retain some vestiges of abdominal segmentation in the form of dorsal tergites; the Avicularioidea lack these. Relationships within the Avicularioidea are not settled . Some established families have been shown not to be monophyletic. In 2018, the family Hexathelidae was split up, and three new families created within ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atypoidea
Atypoidea is a clade of mygalomorph spiders, one of the two main groups into which the mygalomorphs are divided (the other being Avicularioidea). It has been treated at the rank of superfamily. It contains five families of spiders: * Atypidae Atypidae, also known as atypical tarantulas or purseweb spiders, is a spider family containing only three genera. They are accomplished ambush predators that spend most of their time in a sock-like, silken retreat on the ground from where they kil ... * Antrodiaetidae * Mecicobothriidae * Hexurellidae * Megahexuridae Spiders from atypoid families live in burrows and use silk to build many different types of burrow entrance constructs, including purse webs, trapdoors, funnel-and-sheet webs, turrets and silken collars. Phylogeny The following cladogram illustrates the relationships between atypoid mygalomorph spiders based on the molecular phylogenetic analyses of Hedin et al (2019). References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opisthothelae
The Opisthothelae are spiders within the order Araneae, consisting of the Mygalomorphae and the Araneomorphae, but excluding the Mesothelae. The Opisthothelae are sometimes presented as an unranked clade and sometimes as a suborder of the Araneae. In the latter case, the Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae are treated as infraorders. The fairly recent creation of this taxon has been justified by the requirement to distinguish these spiders from the Mesothelae, which display many more primitive characteristics. Those that distinguish between the Mesothelae and Opisthothelae are: * The tergite plates on the abdomen of Mesothelae but absent in Opisthothelae * The almost total absence of ganglia in the abdomen of Opisthothelae * The almost median position of the spinnerets in the Mesothelae compared with the hindmost position of those of the Opistothelae Among the Opisthothelae, the fangs A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphodros Rufines
''Sphodros'' is a genus of North American purseweb spiders first described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1835. It was considered a synonym of '' Atypus'' until 1980. Species it contains seven species in the United States, Canada, and Mexico: *'' Sphodros abboti'' Walckenaer, 1835 ( type) – Southern Georgia, Northern Florida *'' Sphodros atlanticus'' Gertsch & Platnick, 1980 – Eastern and Central United States *'' Sphodros coylei'' Gertsch & Platnick, 1980 – South Carolina, Virginia *'' Sphodros fitchi'' Gertsch & Platnick, 1980 – Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa *'' Sphodros niger'' ( Hentz, 1842) – Canada, Northeastern United States (south to Tennessee and east to Kansas) *'' Sphodros paisano'' Gertsch & Platnick, 1980 – Southeastern Texas, Mexico *''Sphodros rufipes ''Sphodros rufipes'', sometimes called the red legged purseweb spider, is a Mygalomorphae, mygalomorph spider from the southern United States, though it has been photographed as fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Araneomorphae
The Araneomorphae (also called the Labidognatha) are an infraorder of spiders. They are distinguishable by chelicerae (fangs) that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae (tarantulas and their close kin), where they point straight down. Araneomorphs comprise the vast majority of living spiders. Distinguishing characteristics Most spider species are Araneomorphae, which have fangs that face towards each other, increasing the orientations they can employ during prey capture. They have fewer book lungs (when present), and the females typically live one year. The Mygalomorphae have fangs that face towards the ground, and which are parallel to the long axis of the spider's body, thus they have only one orientation they can employ during prey capture. They have four pairs of book lungs, and the females often live many years. Image:Atrax robustus.jpg, This ''Atrax robustus'' shows the orientation of Myglamorphae fangs. Image:C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atrax
''Atrax'' is a genus of venomous Australian funnel web spiders that was first described by O. Pickard-Cambridge in 1877 from the type species ''Atrax robustus''. it contains only three species: ''A. robustus'', '' A. sutherlandi'', and '' A. yorkmainorum''. Originally placed with the curtain web spiders, it was moved to the Hexathelidae in 1980, then to the Australian funnel-web spiders in 2018. Description They are medium to large spiders for their family ranging from 1.5 to 4.5 cm. As most in the Mygalomorphae Infraorder, they have robust bodies. With a glossy dark coloration in their carapace and legs, and a grey opisthosoma. They also have the same long life, ranging from 4 to 20 years. They are usually found in burrows with little silk lining, found under rocks or logs. With their aptly named funnel like webs. They are found in the coasts and highlands of southeastern Australia. Identification They can be identified from others of the same family by the large c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
