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Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) are a family of
araneomorph 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 ...
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 first described 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, ...
in 1890. Females of the family are known for building special nursery webs. When their eggs are about to hatch, a female spider builds a tent-like web, places her egg sac inside, and stands guard outside, hence the family's common name. Like
wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (), named for their robust and agile hunting skills and excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and usually do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon ...
s, however, nursery web spiders are roaming hunters that do not use webs for catching prey. Species occur throughout the world except for extremely dry or cold environments, and are common just about everywhere. Many can walk on the surface of still bodies of water and may even dive beneath the surface temporarily to escape enemies. They can jump a distance of , but they have trouble climbing extremely smooth surfaces such as
glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...
. The name "nursery web spider" is especially given to the European species ''
Pisaura mirabilis The nursery web spider ''Pisaura mirabilis'' is a spider species of the family Pisauridae. Description Striking characteristics of ''Pisaura mirabilis'' are its long legs (the fourth pair being the longest) and its slender abdomen ( opistho ...
''. Adult female specimens may reach up to 15 mm in length, excluding legs. The legs of the male are longer in relation to body size than those of the female. The female spider sometimes attempts to eat the male after mating. The male, to reduce the risk of this, often presents the female with a gift such as a fly when approaching in the hope that this will satisfy her hunger. Sometimes, this gift is a fake present intended to fool the female. Males may wrap the fake gift in silk, to deceive the female to mate. Females can detect the fake gift and terminate mating, negating the male's deception in not giving a real gift. Nursery web spiders resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for some key differences. The posterior lateral eyes of wolf spiders are relatively far back and point sideways. In nursery web spiders, the posterior lateral eyes are closer to the posterior median eyes. Also, female nursery web spiders carry their egg sacs with 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 ...
instead of attaching them to their
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 ...
as wolf spiders do.


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: *'' Afropisaura'' Blandin, 1976 — Africa *'' Archipirata'' Simon, 1898 — Turkmenistan, China *'' Architis'' Simon, 1898 — South America, Trinidad, Panama *'' Blandinia'' Tonini, Paulo da Silva, Serpa Filho & Freitas, 2016 — Madagascar *'' Caripetella'' Strand, 1928 — Madagascar, Comoros *'' Charminus'' Thorell, 1899 — Africa *'' Chiasmopes'' Pavesi, 1883 — Ethiopia, Namibia, South Africa *'' Cispinilus'' Roewer, 1955 — Central Africa *''
Cispius Cispius is the '' nomen'' of the Roman '' gens Cispia''. Cispius Laevus The ''Mons Cispius'', or Cispian Hill, is one of several summits of the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The grammarian Festus says that it was named for a Cispius Laevus of Anagni ...
'' Simon, 1898 — South Africa, Congo *'' Cladycnis'' Simon, 1898 — Canary Is. *'' Conakrya'' Schmidt, 1956 — Guinea *'' Dendrolycosa'' Doleschall, 1859 — Asia, Africa, Oceania *'' Eucamptopus'' Pocock, 1900 — India *'' Euprosthenops'' Pocock, 1897 — Africa, India *'' Euprosthenopsis'' Blandin, 1974 — Africa *'' Hala'' Jocqué, 1994 — Madagascar *'' Hygropoda'' Thorell, 1894 — Africa, Asia, Australia *'' Ilipula'' Simon, 1903 — Vietnam *'' Inola'' Davies, 1982 — Australia *'' Maypacius'' Simon, 1898 — Africa *'' Nilus'' O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 — Asia, Africa *'' Papakula'' Strand, 1911 — Indonesia *'' Paracladycnis'' Blandin, 1979 — Madagascar *'' Perenethis'' L. Koch, 1878 — Asia, Comoros, Oceania *'' Phalaeops'' Roewer, 1955 — Mozambique, Djibouti *'' Pisaura'' Simon, 1886 — Asia *'' Pisaurina'' Simon, 1898 — United States, Canada, Cuba *'' Polyboea'' Thorell, 1895 — Asia *'' Qianlingula'' Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2004 *'' Rothus'' Simon, 1898 — Israel, South Africa *'' Sphedanus'' Thorell, 1877 — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia *'' Stoliczka'' O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885 — Pakistan *'' Tallonia'' Simon, 1889 — Madagascar *'' Tapinothele'' Simon, 1898 — Tanzania *'' Tapinothelella'' Strand, 1909 — South Africa *'' Tapinothelops'' Roewer, 1955 — Ethiopia *'' Tetragonophthalma'' Karsch, 1878 — *'' Thalassiopsis'' Roewer, 1955 — Madagascar *'' Thaumasia'' Perty, 1833 — Central America, South America, Mexico *'' Tinus'' F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1901 — India, Cuba, North America, Central America *'' Tolma'' Jocqué, 1994 — Madagascar *'' Voraptipus'' Roewer, 1955 — Mozambique *'' Vuattouxia'' Blandin, 1979 — Côte d'Ivoire *'' Walrencea'' Blandin, 1979 — South Africa *'' Paraeomolomedes'' Blandin, 1979 — South America *'' Meglaomedes'' Blandin, 1979 — north africa *'' inosalptoneus'' Blandin, 1979 — South Africa *'' kilokilptous'' Blandin, 1979 — South Africa *'' Megnatoplus'' Blandin, 1979 — South Africa *'' Eopatinus'' Blandin, 1979 — South Africa Some fossilized spiders have also been assigned to this family: * '' Eopisaurella'' Petrunkevitch, 1958 (Early Eocene;
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 ...
) * †'' Palaeoperenethis'' Seldon & Penney, 2009 (
Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...
, British Columbia, Canada)


Gallery

Brown spider.jpg, Nursery web spider carrying egg sac


See also

* List of Pisauridae species


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nursery Web Spider *