Oecobiidae, also called disc web spiders, is a family of

araneomorph 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 ...

spiders, including about 100 described species. They are small to moderate sized spiders (about long combined head and body length, depending on the species. Larger ones tend to be desert-dwelling. The legs are unusually evenly placed around the

prosoma The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

; most other spiders have some legs directed clearly forward and the rest clearly backward, or all forward. The first two pairs of legs of many Oecobiids point forward then curve backwards; somehow in a running spider this gives a curiously scurrying, wheel-like impression that is characteristic of many Oecobiidae, and is helpful as a rough-and-ready aid to identification in the field. Characteristic of the family is the anal gland; it bears a tuft of long hairs. Typical colour patterns range from dark-patterned cream in some smaller species, to a small number of symmetrically-placed, conspicuous round light spots (commonly yellow or white) on a background that may be anything from a dull orange colour to black. The carapace is rounded and bears a compact group of six to eight eyes medially situated near the front of its dorsal surface.Holm, Erik, Dippenaar-Schoeman, Ansie; Goggo Guide; LAPA publishers (URL: WWW.LAPA.co.za). 2010 Many Oecobiidae build small, temporary star-shaped webs on or under rocks, or on walls or gravel. They hide near or below such webs and prey largely on ants, giving rise to common names such as "anteater" or "miervreter" (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

for anteater). Some of the Oecobiidae build tiny webs close to the ceilings in people's homes, which might have something to do with the family name (''Oeco biidae'' meaning in essence "those who are house-living"). The species '' Oecobius navus'' occurs around the world. While the genus ''Oecobius'' is

cribellate 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 ...

, the genus ''Uroctea'' is ecribellate.

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: *'' Oecobius'' Lucas, 1846 — Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Brazil, Costa Rica, Oceania *''

Paroecobius ''Paroecobius'' is a genus of spiders in the family Oecobiidae. It was first described in 1981 by Lamoral. , it contains 2 species, found in South Africa and Botswana. References

Oecobiidae Araneomorphae genera Spiders of Africa {{Ar ...

'' Lamoral, 1981 — South Africa, Madagascar, Botswana *'' Platoecobius'' Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 — United States, Argentina *''

Uroctea ''Uroctea'' is a genus of spiders that is found in Eurasia and Africa. It is sometimes put into its own family, ''Urocteidae''. Their tent-like web is very similar to the ones ''Oecobius'' builds; but Uroctea species do not have a cribellum. Spe ...

'' Dufour, 1820 — Asia, Africa *''

Urocteana ''Urocteana'' is a genus of spiders in the family Oecobiidae. It was first described in 1961 by Roewer. , it contains only one species, ''Urocteana poecilis'', from Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢� ...

'' Roewer, 1961 — Senegal *'' Uroecobius'' Kullmann & Zimmermann, 1976 — South Africa

Extinct genera

* †'' Mizalia'' Koch and Berendt 1854

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

* †'' Zamilia'' Wunderlich 2008

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

, Myanmar, Cenomanian

References

* Huber, B.A. (1994): Spermophore morphology reveals a new synapomorphy of ''Oecobius'' and ''Uroctea'' (Araneae, Oecobiidae). Journal of Arachnology 22: 73-74
PDF

External links

Araneomorphae families {{Araneomorphae-stub

Genera

Extinct genera

See also

References

External links