''Mysmenopsis'' is a
kleptoparasitic
Kleptoparasitism (originally spelt clepto-parasitism, meaning "parasitism by theft") is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct fe ...
genus of tiny tropical and subtropical American spiders in the family
Mysmenidae
Mysmenidae is a spider family with about 180 described species in seventeen genera. The family is one of the least well known of the orb-weaving spiders because of their small size () and cryptic behaviour. These spiders are found in humid habita ...
. Most live in the funnelwebs of spiders in the family
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 chel ...
. ''M. archeri'' lives on webs of a species in the family
Pholcidae
The Pholcidae are a Family (biology), family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders. The family contains more than 1,800 individual species of pholcids, including those commonly known as cellar spider, daddy long-legs spider, carpenter spid ...
, ''M. capac'' and ''M. cienaga'' have been observed living in ''
Cyrtophora'' (
Araneidae
Orb-weaver spiders are members of the spider family Araneidae. They are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields, and forests. The English word "orb" can mean "circular", hence the English name ...
) webs. One reason why diplurid webs are preferred seems to be that they are persistent in time and space, sometimes spanning several years.
The monotypic genus ''
Isela
''Isela'' is a genus of spiders in the family Mysmenidae
Mysmenidae is a spider family with about 180 described species in seventeen genera. The family is one of the least well known of the orb-weaving spiders because of their small size () and ...
'' is closely related.
''Mysmenopsis furtiva'' from
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
lives as a kleptoparasite and
commensal
Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction (symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit f ...
in webs of ''
Ischnothele xera''. It steals portions of its host's prey, but also consumes minute trapped insects that are not sought after by the host. In order not to be recognized, it moves only slowly when the host does not move; else it synchronizes its rapid movements with the movements of the host. ''M. furtiva'' has been observed to feed on one end of a prey animal, while the host feeds on the other. When feeding, its legs and pedipalps remain motionless, but its abdomen sways slowly and slightly. One feeding bout can double its abdominal volume. The host shows anti-kleptoparasite behavior, amongst others by adding silk between the kleptoparasite and the feeding site.
The closely related ''M. furtiva'' and ''M. monticola'' parasitize two spider species that are also closely related, and it is believed that the two groups
coevolved.
Species
it contains fifty-two species, found in the
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
:
* ''
Mysmenopsis alvaroi''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis amazonica''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis angamarca''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis archeri''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Brazil
* ''
Mysmenopsis atahualpa''
Baert, 1990 — Peru, Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis awa''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis baerti''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis bartolozzii''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis beebei''
(Gertsch, 1960) — Trinidad
* ''
Mysmenopsis capac''
Baert, 1990 — Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis chiquita''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2015 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis choco''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis cidrelicola''
(Simon, 1895) — Venezuela
* ''
Mysmenopsis cienaga''
Müller, 1987 — Colombia, Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis corazon''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis cube''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis cymbia
''Mysmenopsis'' is a kleptoparasite, kleptoparasitic genus of tiny tropical and subtropical American spiders in the family Mysmenidae. Most live in the funnelwebs of spiders in the family Dipluridae. ''M. archeri'' lives on webs of a species in t ...
''
(Levi, 1956) — USA
* ''
Mysmenopsis dipluramigo''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Panama, Colombia
* ''
Mysmenopsis femoralis''
Simon, 1897 — St. Vincent
* ''
Mysmenopsis fernandoi''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2015 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis funebris''
Simon, 1897 — St. Vincent
* ''
Mysmenopsis furtiva''
Coyle & Meigs, 1989 — Jamaica
* ''
Mysmenopsis gamboa''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Panama
* ''
Mysmenopsis guanza''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis guayaca''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis huascar''
Baert, 1990 — Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis hunachi''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis ischnamigo''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Panama, Trinidad, Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis ixlitla''
(Levi, 1956) — Mexico
* ''
Mysmenopsis junin''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis kochalkai''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Colombia
* ''
Mysmenopsis lasrocas''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis lloa''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis mexcala''
Gertsch, 1960 — Mexico
* ''
Mysmenopsis monticola''
Coyle & Meigs, 1989 — Jamaica
* ''
Mysmenopsis onorei''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2015 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis otokiki''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis otonga''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2015 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis pachacutec''
Baert, 1990 — Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis palpalis''
(Kraus, 1955) — Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
* ''
Mysmenopsis penai''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Ecuador, Colombia
* ''
Mysmenopsis pululahua''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis salazarae''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis schlingeri''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis shushufindi''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis tengellacompa''
Platnick, 1993 — Costa Rica
* ''
Mysmenopsis tepuy''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis tibialis''
(Bryant, 1940) — Cuba
* ''
Mysmenopsis tungurahua''
Dupérré & Tapia, 2020 — Ecuador
* ''
Mysmenopsis viracocha''
Baert, 1990 — Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis wygodzinskyi''
Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Peru
* ''
Mysmenopsis yupanqui''
Baert, 1990 — Peru
References
* Chickering, A.M. (1960). The Female of ''Lucarachne beebei'' Gertsch (Araneae: Symphytognathidae). ''
Psyche'' 67:95-9
PDF* Platnick, N.I. & Shadab, M.U. (1978). A review of the spider genus ''Mysmenopsis'' (Araneae, Mysmenidae). ''American Museum Novitates'' 2661
PDFAbstract* Coyle, F.A. & Meigs, T.E. (1989). Two new species of kleptoparasitic ''Mysmenopsis'' (Araneae, Mysmenidae) from Jamaica. ''Journal of Arachnology'' 17(1):59-7
PDF* Coyle, F.A., O'Shields, T.C. & Perlmutter, D.G. (1991). Observations on the behavior of the kleptoparasitic spider, ''Mysmenopsis furtiva'' (Araneae, Mysmenidae). ''Journal of Arachnology'' 19(1):62-6
PDF
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Mysmenidae
Spiders of North America
Spiders of South America
Araneomorphae genera