Actinopodidae ( Mouse spiders) is a family of

mygalomorph 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 t ...

orb weaver spiders found in mainland

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

usually in open forest. Species are most common in

Queensland, Australia ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. It includes mouse spiders, whose bites, though rare, are considered medically significant and potentially dangerous.

Description

Actinopodidae has wider vision then most other Australian

mygalomorphs 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 the ...

and have a wide front to there

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

. Mouse spiders are stout black with species size varying from 10 mm-35 mm in length. Species have distinctively bulbous heads and jaw regions. Mouse spiders are oftentimes confused with

funnel-web spider Labyrinth spider (Agelena labyrinthica) female in web funnel

parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

. Male spiders will wander away from the burrow in search for female spiders for mating while females stay in the burrow for most of their life.

Diet

Species of Actinopodidae are ambush hunters that lie in their burrow lid at night preying on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...

s that are within catching range of actinopodidae.

Genera

, the

World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ...

accepts the following genera: *'' Actinopus'' Perty, 1833 — South America *'' Missulena'' Walckenaer, 1805 — Australia, Chile *'' Plesiolena'' Goloboff & Platnick, 1987 — Chile

References

External links

Find-a-spider guide
Mygalomorphae families {{Mygalomorphae-stub

Description

Diet

Genera

See also

References

External links