Caponiidae is a family of

ecribellate Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates. In certain groups of diatoms it refers to microscopically punctured regions of the frustule, or o ...

haplogyne The Haplogynae or haplogynes are one of the two main groups into which araneomorph spiders have traditionally been divided, the other being the Entelegynae. Morphological phylogenetic studies suggested that the Haplogynae formed a clade; more rece ...

spiders that are unusual in a number of ways. They differ from other spiders in lacking book lungs and having the posterior median spinnerets anteriorly displaced to form a transverse row with the anterior lateral spinnerets. Most species have only two eyes, which is also unusual among spiders. A few species of Caponiidae variously have four, six or eight eyes. In some species the number of eyes will increase when the spiderling changes its skin as it grows towards adulthood.

Description

These spiders of about are rarely noticed, but generally look like somewhat faded woodlouse hunter spiders in the genus ''

Dysdera ''Dysdera'' is a genus of woodlouse hunting spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804. They originated from Central Asia to Central Europe. The family has gained many common names from their individual species, includi ...

''. The carapace (cephalothorax or prosoma) is orange and the

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ...

(opisthosoma) light gray. The two-eyed species have their two eyes in the anterior middle of the carapace.

Eye numbers

Caponiidae are unusual in the degree to which the eye number varies. In this they surpass even the family

Cybaeidae Cybaeidae is a family of spiders first described by Nathan Banks in 1892. The diving bell spider or water spider ''Argyroneta aquatica'' was previously included in this family, but is now in the family Dictynidae. Genera , the World Spider Cat ...

in which some species have two eyes, some six, and some eight. In some species of the Caponiidae paired eyes meet in the midline, giving the spider in effect, an odd number of eyes. The following genera have eyes as follows: * Eight eyes: ''Calponia'', ''Caponia'' (but latter may also have two, three, four or 'five' eyes) * Six eyes: ''Iraponia'' * Four eyes: ''Nopsides'', ''Notnops'' * Two eyes: ''Cubanops'', ''Diplogena'', ''Laoponia'', ''Medionops'', ''Nops'', ''Nopsma'', ''Nyetnops'', ''Orthonops'', ''Taintnops'', ''Tarsonnops'', ''Tisentnops''.

Habits

Their habits are for the most part unknown. At least some species are known to hunt other spiders.

Relationships

The fact that they are

and

suggests that they might be relatively primitive. ''

Calponia harrisonfordi ''Calponia'' is a monotypic genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Caponiidae, containing the single species, ''Calponia harrisonfordi''. It was first described in 1993 by Norman I. Platnick, who named the type species after the film actor H ...

'' from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

seems to be the most primitive member of the family. Their phylogenetic relationships have long been enigmatic, but in the early 1990s it was determined that they are probably a sister group of the

Tetrablemmidae Tetrablemmidae, sometimes called armored spiders, is a family of tropical araneomorph spiders first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1873. It contains 126 described species in 29 genera from southeast Asia, with a few that occur in Afric ...

plus the four families inside the superfamily Dysderoidea. The subfamily Nopinae consists at least of the genera ''Nops'', ''Nopsides'', ''Orthonops'' and ''Tarsonops''. The remaining genera are unlikely to form a monophyletic group.

Distribution

The family is found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

to the United States.

Names

''Calponia'' is a contraction of ''Californian Caponia'', because the single species ''Calponia harrisonfordi'' has, like the African genus ''Caponia'' eight eyes. The species name is in honor of Harrison Ford, recognizing his efforts on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History. The Chilean caponiid fauna differs from that of the rest of the Neotropics in lacking members of the Nopinae (named after the genus ''Nops''). Three genera newly described by Norman I. Platnick in 1994 were thus named ''Notnops'', ''Taintnops'' and ''Tisentnops'', emphasizing this fact. The only ''Taintnops'' species, ''T. goloboffi'', is named in honor of one of the collectors, P.A. Goloboff.

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: *'' Calponia'' Platnick, 1993 — United States *'' Caponia'' Simon, 1887 — Africa *'' Caponina'' Simon, 1892 — South America, Caribbean, Central America *'' Carajas'' Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2016 — Brazil *'' Cubanops'' Sánchez-Ruiz, Platnick & Dupérré, 2010 — Cuba *'' Diploglena'' Purcell, 1904 — South Africa, Namibia, Botswana *'' Iraponia'' Kranz-Baltensperger, Platnick & Dupérré, 2009 *'' Laoponia'' Platnick & Jäger, 2008 — Laos, Vietnam *'' Medionops'' Sánchez-Ruiz & Brescovit, 2017 — South America, Panama, Trinidad *'' Nasutonops'' Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2016 — Brazil *'' Nops'' MacLeay, 1839 — South America, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean *'' Nopsides'' Chamberlin, 1924 — Mexico *'' Nopsma'' Sánchez-Ruiz, Brescovit, Bonaldo 2020 — South America, Mexico, Central America *'' Notnops'' Platnick, 1994 — Chile *'' Nyetnops'' Platnick & Lise, 2007 — Brazil, Ecuador *'' Orthonops'' Chamberlin, 1924 — United States, Mexico *'' Taintnops'' Platnick, 1994 — Chile *'' Tarsonops'' Chamberlin, 1924 — Cuba, Central America, Mexico *'' Tisentnops'' Platnick, 1994 — Chile, Brazil

References

* Kranz-Baltensperger, Y., N. Platnick & N. Dupérré (2009). A new genus of the spider family Caponiidae (Araneae, Haplogynae) from Iran. ''American Museum Novitates'', 3656 :1-12

* Platnick, N.I. (1993) A New Genus of the Spider Family Caponiidae (Araneae, Haplogynae) from California. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3063
PDF
(''Calponia'') * Platnick, N.I. (1994). A Revision of the Spider Genus ''Caponina'' (Araneae, Caponiidae). ''American Museum Novitates'' 3100. * Platnick, N.I. (1994). A Review of the Chilean Spiders of the Family Caponiidae (Araneae, Haplogynae). ''American Museum Novitates'' 3113
PDF
* Platnick, N.I. (1995). A revision of the spider genus ''Orthonops'' (Araneae, Caponiidae). ''American Museum Novitates'' 3150
PDF
(five new species) * Platnick, N.I. & P. Jager (2008). On the first Asian spiders of the family Caponiidae (Araneae, Haplogynae), with notes on the African genus Diploglena. ''American Museum Novitates'', 3634: 1-12

* Platnick, N.I. & A. Lise (2007). On Nyetnops, a new genus of the spider subfamily Nopinae (Araneae, Caponiidae) from Brazil. ''American Museum Novitates'', 3595:1-9

* Sánchez-Ruiz, A., N.I. Platnick, and N. Dupérré (2010). A new genus of the spider family Caponiidae (Araneae, Haplogynae) from the West Indies. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3705: 1–44

External links

Picture of unidentified caponiid
{{Taxonbar, from=Q8626 Caponiidae, Araneomorphae families