Amaurobiidae is a family of three-clawed cribellate or ecribellate spiders found in crevices and hollows or under stones where they build retreats, and are often collected in pitfall traps. Unlidded burrows are sometimes quite obvious in crusty, loamy soil. They are difficult to distinguish from related spiders in other families, especially

Agelenidae The Agelenidae are a large family of spiders in the suborder Araneomorphae. Well-known examples include the common "grass spiders" of the genus ''Agelenopsis''. Nearly all Agelenidae are harmless to humans, but the bite of the hobo spider (''Era ...

and

Desidae Desidae is a family of spiders, some of which are known as intertidal spiders. The family is named for the genus '' Desis'', members of which inhabit the intertidal zone. The family has been reevaluated in recent years and now includes inland gen ...

. Their intra- and interfamilial relationships have been contentious. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, they are small to medium-sized entelegyne spiders with minimal sheet webs. They are fairly common in Tasmania and nearby mainland Australia in cooler rainforest, some in caves. They are widespread but uncommon along the eastern coastline. They generally have eight similar eyes in two conservatively curved rows. They often have a

calamistrum In spiders, the calamistrum is a row of specialized leg bristles used to comb out fine bands of spider silk, silk. It is only found on cribellate spiders, that is, spiders that possess the spinning organ known as the cribellum. The calamistrum and ...

on metatarsus IV associated with a

cribellum 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 ...

. Australian amaurobiids may be distinguished from the Desidae by the absence of a pretarsal fracture and the presence of a retrocoxal hymen on coxa I.

Reorganization

This family has lost and gained several genera resulting from wide-ranging DNA analysis of spider families. It lost '' Bakala'' and '' Manjala'' to

, while

Toxopidae Toxopidae is a small family of araneomorph spiders, first described in 1940. For many years it was sunk into Desidae as a subfamily, although doubts were expressed as to whether this was correct. A large-scale molecular phylogenetic study in 201 ...

took in '' Midgee'' and the monotypic genus '' Jamara''. It also lost some of Australia's medium-sized brown spiders including '' Tasmabrochus'', '' Tasmarubrius'', and '' Teeatta'') to Macrobunidae, all of which are claimed to be common in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

and mainland

but are rarely seen or recorded. The lack of research replicability and absence of photographic proof in species and genus diagnosis has resulted in low performance in computer recognition models and citizen science platforms for these genera.

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 ...

accepted the following genera, that are placed in four subfamilies, after Macrobuninae was elevated to a full family: Altellopsinae Lehtinen, 1967: *'' Altellopsis'' Simon, 1905 — Argentina *'' Neuquenia'' Mello-Leitão, 1940 — Argentina *'' Rhoicinaria'' Exline, 1950 — Colombia, Ecuador *'' Tugana'' Chamberlin, 1948 — Cuba *'' Yacolla'' Lehtinen, 1967 — Brazil Amaurobiinae Thorell, 1869: *''

Amaurobius ''Amaurobius'' is a genus of Amaurobiidae, tangled nest spiders that was first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1837. Species it contains sixty-eight species: *''Amaurobius agastus, A. agastus'' (Ralph Vary Chamberlin, Chamberlin, 1947) – USA ...

'' C. L. Koch, 1837 — North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Georgia, Micronesia *'' Auhunga'' Forster & Wilton, 1973 — New Zealand *'' Callobius'' Chamberlin, 1947 — North America, Bulgaria, Asia *'' Cybaeopsis'' Strand, 1907 — North America, Asia *'' Dardurus'' Davies, 1976 — Australia *'' Daviesa'' Koçak & Kemal, 2008 — Australia *'' Ecurobius'' Zamani & Marusik, 2021 — Iran *'' Himalmartensus'' Wang & Zhu, 2008 — Nepal, India *'' Maloides'' Forster & Wilton, 1989 — New Zealand *'' Muritaia'' Forster & Wilton, 1973 — New Zealand *''

Otira Otira is a small township fifteen kilometres north of Arthur's Pass in the central South Island of New Zealand. It is on the northern approach to the pass, a saddle between the Ōtira and Bealey Rivers high in the Southern Alps. A possible me ...

'' Forster & Wilton, 1973 — New Zealand *'' Oztira'' Milledge, 2011 — Australia *'' Pimus'' Chamberlin, 1947 — United States *''

Storenosoma ''Storenosoma'' is a genus of Australian Amaurobiidae, tangled nest spiders first described by Henry Roughton Hogg in 1900. Species it contains thirteen species: *''Storenosoma altum'' Davies, 1986 – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales) *' ...

'' Hogg, 1900 — Australia *''

Taira The was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period of Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Tachibana. The clan is divided into four major groups, named ...

'' Lehtinen, 1967 — China, Japan *'' Tymbira'' Mello-Leitão, 1944 — Argentina *'' Virgilus'' Roth, 1967 — Ecuador *'' Wabarra'' Davies, 1996 — Australia *'' Waitetola'' Forster & Wilton, 1973 — New Zealand Arctobiinae Leech, 1972: *'' Arctobius'' Lehtinen, 1967 — United States, Canada, Russia Ovtchinnikoviinae Marusik, Kovblyuk, & Ponomarev, 2010: *'' Ovtchinnikovia'' Marusik, Kovblyuk & Ponomarev, 2010 – Russia (Caucasus)

References

External links

Narrated Video of ''A. fenestralis''

Video of Amaurobiid from Ireland
{{Authority control Araneomorphae families