Wall spider is the common name for members of the genus ''Oecobius'' in the family

Oecobiidae Oecobiidae, also called disc web spiders, is a family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders, including about 100 described species. They are small to moderate sized spiders, about long combined head and body length, depending on the species. Lar ...

. The members of these several species are all small

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 that make small flat webs over crevices in walls and in similar spaces. They are

cribellate Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates. In certain groups of diatoms it refers to microscopically punctured regions of the frustule, or ...

spiders, meaning that they produce

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

through a sieve-like plate of many parallel spigots, so that it emerges in a bundle of many invisibly fine parallel fibres with no adhesive covering to glue them together. Instead the bundles part into separate woolly cables that readily entangle small prey items, such as ants, that run into them. The spider sits in middle of the web, and when it is disturbed by suitable prey, it runs out and circles the prey with more silk to tangle it further. It subdues the prey by biting it, and carries one or more items bundled in silk, seeking a refuge where it can feed. One cosmopolitan species is ''O. navus'' (sometimes also called ''O. annulipes''). One species of interest is ''Oecobius civitas''. When a spider enters the home of another spider, rather than defend itself, the resident leaves to find another one.

Species

* '' Oecobius achimota'' Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Ghana) * '' Oecobius aculeatus'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius affinis'' O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Syria, Jordan) * '' Oecobius agaetensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius albipunctatus'' O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Syria) * '' Oecobius alhoutyae'' Wunderlich, 1995 (Kuwait) * '' Oecobius amboseli'' Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Egypt, Kenya, Uganda) * '' Oecobius annulipes'' Lucas, 1846 (Algeria) * '' Oecobius ashmolei'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius beatus'' Gertsch & Davis, 1937 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius bracae'' Shear, 1970 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius caesaris'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is., Azores) * '' Oecobius cambridgei'' Wunderlich, 1995 (Lebanon) * '' Oecobius camposi'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius cellariorum'' (Dugès, 1836) (Cosmopolitan) * '' Oecobius chiasma'' Barman, 1978 (India) * '' Oecobius civitas'' Shear, 1970 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius concinnus'' Simon, 1893 (USA to Brazil, Galapagos Is. (elsewhere, introduced)) * '' Oecobius culiacanensis'' Shear, 1970 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius cumbrecita'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius depressus'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius dolosus'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius doryphorus'' Schmidt, 1977 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius erjosensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius formosensis'' (Kishida, 1943) (Taiwan) * '' Oecobius fortaleza'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius fuerterotensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius furcula'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius gomerensis'' Wunderlich, 1979 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius hayensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius hidalgoensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius hierroensis'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius hoffmannae'' Jiménez & Llinas, 2005 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius idolator'' Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Burkina Faso) * '' Oecobius iguestensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius incertus'' Wunderlich, 1995 (North Africa) * '' Oecobius infierno'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius interpellator'' Shear, 1970 (USA) * '' Oecobius isolatoides'' Shear, 1970 (USA, Mexico) * '' Oecobius isolatus'' Chamberlin, 1924 (USA, Mexico) * '' Oecobius juangarcia'' Shear, 1970 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius lampeli'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius latiscapus'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius linguiformis'' Wunderlich, 1995 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius longiscapus'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius machadoi'' Wunderlich, 1995 (Portugal, Spain) * '' Oecobius maculatus'' Simon, 1870 (Mediterranean to Azerbaijan) * '' Oecobius marathaus'' Tikader, 1962 (Pantropical) * '' Oecobius marcosensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius maritimus'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius minor'' Kulczyn'ski, 1909 (Azores, Madeira) * '' Oecobius nadiae'' (Spassky, 1936) (Central Asia, China) * ''

Oecobius navus Wall spider is the common name for members of the genus ''Oecobius'' in the family Oecobiidae. The members of these several species are all small spiders that make small flat webs over crevices in walls and in similar spaces. They are cribe ...

'' Blackwall, 1859 (Cosmopolitan) ** '' Oecobius navus hachijoensis'' Uyemura, 1965 (Japan) * '' Oecobius palmensis'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius paolomaculatus'' Wunderlich, 1995 (Algeria) * '' Oecobius pasteuri'' Berland & Millot, 1940 (West Africa) * '' Oecobius persimilis'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius petronius'' Simon, 1890 (Yemen) * '' Oecobius piaxtla'' Shear, 1970 (Mexico) * ''

Oecobius pinoensis Wall spider is the common name for members of the genus ''Oecobius'' in the family Oecobiidae. The members of these several species are all small spiders that make small flat webs over crevices in walls and in similar spaces. They are cribell ...

'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius przewalskyi'' Hu & Li, 1987 (Tibet) * '' Oecobius pseudodepressus'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius putus'' O. P.-Cambridge, 1876 (Egypt, Sudan to Azerbaijan (USA, introduced)) * '' Oecobius rhodiensis'' Kritscher, 1966 (Greece) * '' Oecobius rioensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius rivula'' Shear, 1970 (Mexico) * '' Oecobius rugosus'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius sapporensis'' Saito, 1934 (Japan) * '' Oecobius selvagensis'' Wunderlich, 1995 (Salvages) * '' Oecobius sheari'' Benoit, 1975 (Chad) * '' Oecobius similis'' Kulczyn'ski, 1909 (Madeira, Canary Is., Azores, St. Helena) * '' Oecobius sombrero'' Wunderlich, 1987 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius tadzhikus'' Andreeva & Tyschchenko, 1969 (Central Asia) * '' Oecobius tasarticoensis'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.) * '' Oecobius teliger'' O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Lebanon) * '' Oecobius templi'' O. P.-Cambridge, 1876 (Egypt, Sudan) * '' Oecobius tibesti'' Shear & Benoit, 1974 (Chad) * '' Oecobius trimaculatus'' O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 (Jordan) * '' Oecobius unicoloripes'' Wunderlich, 1992 (Canary Is.)

Species

References

Further reading