Hexathelidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders. It is one of a number of families and genera of spiders known as tunnelweb or funnel-web spiders. In 2018, the family was substantially reduced in size by genera being moved to three separate families: Atracidae,

Macrothelidae Macrothelidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders, split off from the family Hexathelidae in 2018. It contains three genera, '' Macrothele,'' '' Vacrothele'' and the extinct '' Promacrothele.'' Genera *'' Macrothele'' Ausserer, 1871 Europe, Afri ...

and Porrhothelidae.

Description

These spiders are medium to large in size, with body lengths ranging from . The body is typically three times longer than it is wide. They are darkly colored, ranging from black to brown, with a glossy carapace covering the front part of the body. Like the related diplurid spiders, the hexathelids have generally long spinnerets. Their moderately long posterior spinnerets and other features make the Hexathelidae appear similar to the Dipluridae, and were considered a subfamily of the latter until 1980. Like other Mygalomorphae (also called the Orthognatha, an

infraorder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between Family_(biology), family and Class_(biology), class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classific ...

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 which 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), these spiders have fangs which point straight down and do not cross each other (see also

Araneomorphae The Araneomorphae (also called the Labidognatha or "true spiders") 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 (taran ...

). They have ample

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

glands that lie entirely within their

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 ...

. Their chelicerae and fangs are large and powerful.

Taxonomy

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study in 2018 showed that Hexathelidae, as then circumscribed, was not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

and hence split off genera into the new families Atracidae,

and Porrhothelidae. The following cladogram shows the relationships found between these families (former Hexathelidae families marked with boxes).

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: *''

Bymainiella ''Bymainiella'' is a genus of Australian Hexathelidae, funnel-web spiders that was first described by Robert Raven, R. J. Raven in 1978. This genus is named in honour of the Australian arachnologist Barbara York Main. Species it contains four s ...

'' Raven, 1978 — Australia *'' Hexathele'' Ausserer, 1871 — New Zealand *'' Mediothele'' Raven & Platnick, 1978 — Chile *'' Paraembolides'' Raven, 1980 — Australia *'' Plesiothele'' Raven, 1978 — Australia *'' Scotinoecus'' Simon, 1892 — Chile, Argentina *'' Teranodes'' Raven, 1985 — Australia

Formerly placed here

, some genera formerly placed in Hexathelidae have been moved to other families: * Former subfamily Atracinae, now in Atracidae :* '' Atrax'' O. P-Cambridge, 1877 —

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 ...

:* '' Hadronyche'' L. Koch, 1873 — Australia :* '' Illawarra'' Gray, 2010 — Australia * Now in

:* ''

Macrothele ''Macrothele'' is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Macrothelidae, and was first described by A. Ausserer in 1871. Most of the species in the genus occur in Asia, from India to Japan, and Java, with five found in Africa, and two in ...

'' Ausserer, 1871 —

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

* Now in Porrhothelidae :* '' Porrhothele'' Simon, 1892 — New Zealand

Distribution and habitat

Five of the seven genera are found in

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Two genera are from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

in South America. Hexathelids typically live in burrows, which are constructed in the ground or in tree hollows. An elaborately constructed burrow entrance is common. These spiders construct a funnel-shaped

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

and lurk for prey in the small end of the funnel. They frequently search for a place to nest under human dwellings, or under nearby rocks, logs, or other similar objects. They are most active at night. Some build in rain forests, both in the soil and in hollows on trees; others build entirely in sand, e.g., Fraser Island, southeastern Queensland. In Australia, these spiders tend to prefer cooler climates, hence they are found primarily in rain forests.

References

External links

: Queensland Museum: Funnelweb spiders

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10558 Mygalomorphae families