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Purseweb Spider
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 kill their prey. Distribution '' Sphodros'' and '' Atypus'' occur in North America, while '' Atypus'' and '' Calommata'' occur in Asia and Africa. Only '' Atypus'' species are found in Europe. '' Atypus affinis'', '' Atypus muralis'', and '' Atypus piceus'' are the only mygalomorph spiders found in Central Europe. Biology ''Atypus'' builds a silken tube parallel to the surface of the ground. While up to 8 cm of the tube lie on the ground, about 20 cm are buried vertically. The spider rests at the bottom of the tube. When prey walks on the exposed part, the spider, alerted by the vibrations, stabs the prey through the silk, cuts the web and drags the prey inside to be eaten. ''Calommata'' species, instead of building a purseweb, l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphodros Rufipes
''Sphodros rufipes'', sometimes called the red legged purseweb spider, is a mygalomorph spider from the southern and eastern United States, though it has been photographed as far north as Minnesota. It has confirmed sightings in Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, West Virginia, Tennessee, Delaware, Louisiana, and Tuckernuck Island in Massachusetts. One recent sighting shows that these spiders can also be found in Canada, while another reveals that they have been spotted in Kansas. The species name ''rufipes'' is Latin for 'red foot'. Taxonomy The species was first described as ''Atypus rufipes'' by Pierre André Latreille in 1829. It was transferred to the genus '' Sphodros'' in 1980. ''Sphodros'' and ''Atypus'' species can be distinguished by features of their genitalia. ''Sphodros'' males have a long, curved embolus lying in a similarly shaped conductor. Females have an epigynum with four long, coiled tubes. Description These spiders are solid and strong-looking with reddish-b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atypus Piceus
''Atypus piceus'' is a mygalomorph spider of the family Atypidae. It occurs from France to Russia and in Iran, and is the type species of the genus ''Atypus''. Description Males are about long without chelicerae, females up to . Males are of a deep black, while spiderlings and females are dark brown with a violet hue. The very long posterior spinnerets 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 ar ... consist of three segments, the last segment features a light blot, which is helpful in identifying the species. ''A. piceus'' can live for more than 10 years.Bellmann, H. (1997). Kosmos-Atlas Spinnentiere Europas. ''Kosmos''. Habits Adults live in up to deep tubes with a diameter of about 10 mm. The silken lining continues above ground for about , where it is camouflaged wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Athanase Walckenaer
Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant, writer, man of letters, and scientist. He was a polymath and wrote extensively on geography, natural history, and literature. Major contributions included his multi-volume natural histories of arachnids and insects, some published in collaboration with others. He was made a baron in 1823. Biography Walckenaer was born in Paris and after losing his parents at an early age he was raised by his uncle Charles-Nicolas Duclos Dufresnoy, a notary in the court of Louis XVI. His uncle's elite and educated circle made an impression on the young boy and he was sent to study at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow. Dufresnoy was guillotined in 1794 following the French Revolution for being associated with the regime. In 1793, Walckenaer was appointed head of the military transports in the Pyrenees, after which he pursued technical studies at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippolyte Lucas
Pierre-Hippolyte Lucas (17 January 1814 – 5 July 1899) was a French entomologist. Lucas was an assistant-naturalist at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. From 1839 to 1842 he studied fauna as part of the scientific commission on the exploration of Algeria. His brother was Prosper Lucas. Works * ''Histoire naturelle des lépidoptères exotiques. Ouvrage orné de 200 figures peintes d'après nature par Pauquet et gravées sur acier''. Paris, Pauquet, Bibliothèque Zoologique, 1835. * ''Histoire naturelle des animaux articulés. Exploration scientifique de l'Algérie, pendant les années 1840, 1841 et 1842''. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale (1844–1849). Published in 25 volumes this work contains 122 fine engraved plates. * "Description de nouvelles Espèces de Lépidoptères appartenant aux Collections entomologiques du Musée de Paris". ''Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée''. (2) 4 (3): 128–141 (1852) 4 (4): 189–198 (1852) 4 (6): 290–300 (1852) 4 (7): 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre André Latreille
Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoology, zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom after recognising a rare beetle species he found in the prison, ''Necrobia ruficollis.'' He published his first important work, , in 1796, and was eventually employed by the . His foresighted work on arthropod systematics and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy gained him respect and accolades, including being asked to write the volume on insects for George Cuvier's monumental work, , the only part not by Cuvier himself. Latreille was considered the foremost entomology, entomologist of his time, and was described by one of his pupils as "the prince of entomologists". Biography Early life Pierre André Latreille was born on 29 November 1762 in the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde, Brive, then in the Limousin (province), province of Limousi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 web pages in 2000, created by Norman I. Platnick of the American Museum of Natural History. After his retirement in 2014, the Natural History Museum of Bern took over, converting the catalog to a relational database A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for .... As of November 22, 2024, 52'487 species are listed, after an average discovery rate of three new species per day. The order Araneae has the seventh-most species of all orders. The WSC's existence makes spiders the largest taxon with an online listing that is updated regular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dipluridae
The family Dipluridae, known as curtain-web spiders (or confusingly as funnel-web tarantulas, a name shared with other distantly related families) are a group of spiders in the infraorder Mygalomorphae, that have two pairs of booklungs, and chelicerae (fangs) that move up and down in a stabbing motion. A number of genera, including that of the Sydney funnel-web spider (''Atrax''), used to be classified in this family but have now been moved to Atracidae. Description Dipluridae lack rastella (stout conical spines on their chelicerae). Their carapace is characterized by the head region not being higher than the thoracic region. Their posterior median spinnerets (silk-extruding organs) are much shorter than their posterior lateral spinnerets, which have three segments, and are elongated (almost as long as their opisthosoma). Most of the species are medium to small-sized spiders; some may measure about 15 mm.Murphy & Murphy 2000 The cave species '' Masteria caeca'' is eyele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinneret (spider)
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 typically segmented. While most spiders have six spinnerets, some have two, four, or eight. They can move both independently and in concert. Most spinnerets are not simple structures with a single orifice producing a single thread, but complex structures of many microscopic spigots, each producing one filament. This produces the necessary orientation of the protein molecules, without which the silk would be weak and useless. Spigots can be singular or found in groups, which also permits spiders to combine multiple filaments in different ways to produce many kinds of silk for various purposes. Spinneret morphology can help arachnologists identify the taxon of a specimen and the specific morphology of a spigot can determine its use as well. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chelicerae
The chelicerae () are the arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or as a type of pincer_(biology), pincers. Some chelicerae, such as those found on nearly all spiders, are hollow and contain (or are connected to) venom glands, used to inject venom into prey or a perceived threat. Both pseudoscorpions and Opiliones , harvestmen have additional structures on their chelicerae that are used for grooming (papillae in pseudoscorpions, cheliceral teeth in Opiliones). In ''Paratrechalea'', males and females have shown to have a chelicerae dimorphism, because the chelicerae is used as a mating signal for females. Types Chelicerae can be divided into three kinds: jackknife chelicerae, scissor chelicerae, and three-segmented wikt:chelate, chelate chelicerae. Jackknife chelicerae The jackknife chelicer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider Silk
Spider silk is a protein fibre or silk spun by spiders. Spiders use silk to make webs or other structures that function as adhesive traps to catch prey, to entangle and restrain prey before biting, to transmit tactile information, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring. They can use the silk to suspend themselves from height, to float through the air, or to glide away from predators. Most spiders vary the thickness and adhesiveness of their silk according to its use. In some cases, spiders may use silk as a food source. While methods have been developed to collect silk from a spider by force, gathering silk from many spiders is more difficult than from silk-spinning organisms such as silkworms. All spiders produce silk, although some spiders do not make webs. Silk is tied to courtship and mating. Silk produced by females provides a transmission channel for male vibratory courtship signals, while webs and draglines provide a substrate for female sex pheromone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mygalomorphae
The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3,000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to their creation of 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 realised that the common ancestors of all spiders had these features (a state known as symplesiomorphy). Following the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atypus Muralis
''Atypus muralis'' is a mygalomorph spider from Central Europe to Turkmenistan. It is very similar to ''Atypus piceus'', but the posterior spinnerets 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 ar ... consist of four instead of three segments.Jones, Dick (1989) ''A Guide to Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe'' (revised edition), Hamlyn, , p. 46 They also build tubes that can be up to 1 m deep. Females grow to around 12 mm, while males grow to 9 mm. References Atypidae Spiders of Europe Spiders of Asia Spiders described in 1890 {{Atypidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
