Psechridae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of araneomorph

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

s with about 70 species in two genera. These are among the biggest cribellate spiders with body lengths up to and funnel webs more than in diameter. The family belongs to the RTA clade of spiders because they all have a Retrolateral Tibial Apophysis on the male

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") a ...

. A recent phylogenetic analysis places Psechridae as close relatives of the lynx spiders,

wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or ...

s, and

nursery web spider Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890. They resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for several key differences. Wolf spiders have two very prominent eyes in addition to the o ...

s. They feature several characteristics normally found in ecribellate spiders, for example brood care behavior, and a colulus with no apparent function. They have greatly elongated legs, with the last element being very flexible. Female '' Psechrus'' carry their egg-sac in the

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the 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 fangs, or simila ...

, similar to their relatives, the ecribellate

Pisauridae Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890. They resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for several key differences. Wolf spiders have two very prominent eyes in addition to the ...

. Members of ''Psechrus'' construct horizontal webs lace webs, while ''Fecenia'' construct pseudo-orbs, similar to orb webs of

Orbiculariae Orbiculariae is a potential clade of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders, uniting two groups that make orb webs. Phylogenetics, Phylogenetic analyses based on morphological characters have generally recovered this clade; analyses based on DNA have ...

spiders in an example of evolutionary convergence.

Distribution

They occur in southeastern Asia, ranging from India in the west, to Solomon Islands in the east, reaching as far south as northern Australia, and north to central China. They are found in forest, rocky areas, and caves from lowlands to altitudes exceeding .

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: *'' Fecenia'' Simon, 1887 — Asia, Australia *'' Psechrus'' Thorell, 1878 — Asia, Australia * †'' Eomatachia'' Petrunkevitch, 1942 (fossil,

oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

)

Distribution

Genera

See also

References

Further reading