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

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s in the infraorder

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 t ...

, that have two pairs of booklungs, and

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) that move up and down in a stabbing motion. A number of

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, 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

). Their

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 ...

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 The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma ( cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects ...

). 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 eyeless.

Biology

Members of this family often build rather messy funnel-webs. Some build silk-lined burrows instead of webs (''Diplura'', ''Trechona'', ''Harpathele'', some ''Linothele'' sp.). They generally build their retreats in crevices in earthen banks, the bark of trees, under logs or in leaf litter.

Distribution

As circumscribed , the family is mostly found in South America and the Caribbean, with some genera found in Australia and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

Taxonomy

The family Dipluridae was first erected in 1889 by

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist in history, ...

. A major study of the Mygalomorphae by Robert Raven in 1985 characterized the Dipluridae on morphological grounds, in particular the possession of long and widely spaced spinnerets. Raven divided the family into four subfamilies: Diplurinae, Euagrinae, Ischnothelinae and Masteriinae. Molecular phylogenetic studies from 1993 onwards showed that with Raven's circumscription, Dipluridae was not monophyletic, with the subfamilies Ischnothelinae and Euagrinae only very distantly related to Diplurinae. Accordingly, in 2020, Opatova et al. restricted Dipluridae to Diplurinae and Masteriinae, and elevated the subfamilies Ischnothelinae and Euagrinae to the families Ischnothelidae and Euagridae. The genus '' Microhexura'' was removed from its former placement in Euagrinae and placed in a separate family, Microhexuridae. The family Dipluridae is most closely related to the Cyrtaucheniidae, and is placed in the "Nemesioidina" clade of 'advanced' mygalomorph families:

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: *''

Diplura The order Diplura ("two-pronged bristletails") is one of three orders of non-insect hexapods within the class Entognatha (alongside Collembola (springtails) and Protura). The name "diplura", or "two tails", refers to the characteristic pair o ...

'' C. L. Koch, 1850 — South America *'' Harmonicon'' F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896 — Brazil *'' Harpathele'' Wermelinger-Moreira, Pedroso, Castanheira & Baptista, 2024 — Brazil *'' Linothele'' Karsch, 1879 — South America *'' Masteria'' L. Koch, 1873 — South America, Caribbean, Philippines, Central America, Oceania *'' Siremata'' Passanha & Brescovit, 2018 — Brazil *'' Striamea'' Raven, 1981 — Colombia *'' Trechona'' C. L. Koch, 1850 — Brazil

Transferred to other families

The following genera are now placed in other families (elevated from subfamilies): *'' Allothele'' Tucker, 1920 → Euagridae *'' Andethele'' Coyle, 1995 → Ischnothelidae *'' Australothele'' Raven, 1984 → Euagridae *'' Caledothele'' Raven, 1991 → Euagridae *'' Carrai'' Raven, 1984 → Euagridae *'' Cethegus'' Thorell, 1881 → Euagridae *'' Chilehexops'' Coyle, 1986 → Euagridae *'' Euagrus'' Ausserer, 1875 → Euagridae *'' Indothele'' Coyle, 1995 → Ischnothelidae *'' Ischnothele'' Ausserer, 1875 → Ischnothelidae *'' Lathrothele'' Benoit, 1965 → Ischnothelidae *'' Leptothele'' Raven & Schwendinger, 1995 → Euagridae *'' Microhexura'' Crosby & Bishop, 1925 → Microhexuridae *'' Namirea'' Raven, 1984 → Euagridae *'' Phyxioschema'' Simon, 1889 → Euagridae *'' Stenygrocercus'' Simon, 1892 → Euagridae *'' Thelechoris'' Karsch, 1881 → Ischnothelidae *'' Troglodiplura'' Main, 1969 → Anamidae *'' Vilchura'' Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2017 → Euagridae

Extinct species

Extinct genera and species that have been placed in this family include: * †'' Clostes'' Menge, 1869 —

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

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

** †''Clostes priscus'' (Menge, 1869) * †'' Cretadiplura'' Selden, 2005 — Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation, Brazil ** †''Cretadiplura ceara'' Selden, 2005 * †'' Dinodiplura'' Selden, 2005 — Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation, Brazil ** †''Dinodiplura ambulacra'' Selden, 2005 * †'' Seldischnoplura'' Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015 — Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation, Brazil ** †''Seldischnoplura seldeni'' Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015 * †'' Edwa'' Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015 — Late Triassic (Norian) Blackstone Formation, Australia ** †''Edwa maryae'' Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015 * † '' Phyxioschemoides'' Wunderlich, 2015 — Cretaceous

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. Th ...

** † ''Phyxioschemoides collembola'' Wunderlich, 2015 * † '' Cethegoides'' Wunderlich, 2017 — Cretaceous

** † ''Cethegoides patricki'' Wunderlich, 2017

References

* Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. ''Malaysian Nature Society'', Kuala Lumpur.

External links

Taxonomy, housing and captive breeding of Dipluridae sp.
including key to all genera {{Authority control Mygalomorphae families Norian first appearances Extant Late Triassic first appearances