Dwarf tarantulas, also known as sheet funnel-web spiders are a type of spider from the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Mecicobothriidae. Dwarf tarantulas are one of several families of the suborder
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 ...
; this larger group also includes the true
tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,100 species have been identified, with 166 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...
s.
Description
Dwarf tarantulas, as the name indicates, appear very similar to tarantulas, but are physically much smaller. Many specimens are smaller than 1 cm in length, and the largest in the family are seldom larger than 2 cm. The spiders, like all Mygalomorphae, have downward pointing fangs; dwarf tarantulas also have long
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 ...
.
Genera
There is currently only 1 recognized
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
in this family:
''
Mecicobothrium''
Holmberg, 1882
* ''
Mecicobothrium baccai''
Lucas et al., 2006 — Brazil
* ''
Mecicobothrium thorelli''
Holmberg, 1882 — Argentina, Uruguay
Genera moved to other families include:
*''
Hexura''
Simon, 1884 →
Antrodiaetidae
*''
Hexurella''
Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 →
Hexurellidae
*''
Megahexura''
Kaston, 1972 →
Megahexuridae
See also
*
Spider families
Spider taxonomy is the part of taxonomy that is concerned with the science of naming, defining and classifying all spiders, members of the Araneae order of the arthropod class Arachnida, which has more than 52,700 described species. However, there ...
References
* Costa, F.G. & Pérez-Miles, F. (1998). Behavior, life cycle, and webs of ''Mecicobothrium thorelli'', ''The Journal of Arachnology'' 26:317-32
PDF
*Gertsch, W.G. & Platnick, N.I. (1979). A revision of the spider family Mecicobothriidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae). ''American Museum Novitates'' 268
PDF (14Mb)Abstract*
Atypoidea
Spiders of South America
Spiders of North America
Taxa named by Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg
{{Mecicobothriidae-stub