Symphytognathidae is a family of

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 with 90 described species in eight genera. They occur in the tropics of Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n region (with

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

). Exceptions include ''

Anapistula benoiti ''Anapistula'' is a genus of Symphytognathidae, dwarf orb-weavers that was first described by Willis J. Gertsch, Carl Eduard Adolph Gerstaecker in 1941. Species it contains thirty species, found in North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Oceania, ...

'', '' Anapistula caecula'', and '' Symphytognatha imbulunga'', found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, '' Anapistula ishikawai'', found in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and '' Anapistula jerai'', found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The species '' Patu digua'' is considered to be one of the smallest spiders in the world with a body size of .

Morphology

Symphytognathidae are four, six or eight-eyed spiders and are generally small in size. The

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma ( cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects ...

is covered in long hairs.

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: *'' Anapistula'' Gertsch, 1941 — Asia, South America, Portugal, Oceania, Africa, North America, Jamaica *'' Anapogonia'' Simon, 1905 — Indonesia *'' Crassignatha'' Wunderlich, 1995 — Indonesia, Malaysia *'' Curimagua'' Forster & Platnick, 1977 — Panama, Venezuela *'' Globignatha'' Balogh & Loksa, 1968 — Brazil, Belize *'' Iardinis'' Simon, 1899 — Nepal, India *'' Patu'' Marples, 1951 — Asia, Colombia, Oceania, Seychelles *'' Swilda'' Miller, Griswold & Yin, 2009 — Asia *'' Symphytognatha'' Hickman, 1931 — Oceania, South America, Caribbean, Mexico, Belize, South Africa

References

Araneomorphae families {{Araneomorphae-stub