The sac spiders of the family Clubionidae are nocturnal, sac-building hunting spiders with a near-worldwide distribution. Their sacs, silken retreats in which they hide during the day, may be made in a variety of places, including between folded leaves or grass blades, under bark and below rocks or other ground litter.
Although formerly a much larger catch-all taxon, in its current definition the family contains less than 700 described species across 18 genera, of which ''
Clubiona'' is by far most species-rich, with 528 accepted species .
Taxonomy
The Clubionidae have a complex taxonomic history. Historically, the family was a
large catch-all taxon for a variety of spiders that shared the following morphological and behavioral similarities: having eight eyes arranged in two rows; having conical anterior spinnerets that touched; and being nocturnal wandering predators that build "sacs" to retreat to during the day.
A large number of genera have been transferred from Clubionidae to other families, and several former subfamilies of the Clubionidae are now treated as separate families.
The
Zoropsidae
Zoropsidae, also known as false wolf spiders for their physical similarity to wolf spiders, is a family of cribellate araneomorph spiders first described by Philipp Bertkau in 1882. They can be distinguished from wolf spiders by their two row ...
, to which genera ''Anachemmis'', ''Lauricius'' and ''Liocranoides'' were transferred, is much more closely related to the lynx spiders of family
Oxyopidae than to the remaining Clubionidae.
According to 2023
cladistic
Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...
research by Siddharth Kulkarni, Hannah M. Wood and Gustavo Hormiga, the remaining Clubionidae remain
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...
as a result of the current placement of genus ''
Elaver''.
Genera
, the Clubionidae consist of over 665 species in 18 genera worldwide,
with by far the majority of species in genus ''Clubiona''. The following genera are accepted by 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 ...
:
*''
Arabellata''
Baert, Versteirt & Jocqué, 2010 — New Guinea
*''
Bucliona''
Benoit, 1977 — St. Helena, Kenya, Russian Far East, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan
*''
Clubiona''
Latreille, 1804 — Africa, North America, Asia, Oceania, South America, Europe, Panama
*''
Clubionina''
Berland, 1947 — St. Paul Is.
*''
Elaver''
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898 — North America, Caribbean, Central America, South America, Philippines
*''
Femorbiona''
Yu & Li, 2021 — China, Vietnam
*''
Invexillata''
Versteirt, Baert & Jocqué, 2010 — New Guinea
*''
Malamatidia''
Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 — Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia
*''
Matidia''
Thorell, 1878 — Asia, Papua New Guinea
*''
Nusatidia''
Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 — Asia
*''
Porrhoclubiona''
Lohmander, 1944 — Asia, Africa, Europe
*''
Pristidia''
Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 — Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia
*''
Pteroneta''
Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 — Asia, Australia
*''
Ramosatidia''
Yu & Li, 2021 — China
*''
Scopalio''
Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 — Indonesia
*''
Simalio''
Simon, 1897 — Asia, Trinidad
*''
Sinostidia''
Yu & Li, 2021 — China
*''
Tixcocoba''
Gertsch, 1977 — Mexico
Additionally, the World Spider Catalog considers ''
Carteroniella''
Strand, 1907 to be a ''
nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...
''.
See also
*
List of Clubionidae species
Notes
References
External links
Family Anyphaenidae Sac spiders, ghost spiders*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090305003004/http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060A.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sac Spider
Clubionidae, *