Dipluridae

Funnel-web tarantulas Temporal range: Norian^[1]-Recent

Linothele fallax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Mygalomorphae
Family:	Dipluridae Simon, 1889^[2]
Genera
See text.
Diversity^[3]
24 genera, 185 species

Masteria petrunkevitchi eye pattern

The family Dipluridae, known as curtain-web spiders (or confusingly with other distantly related ones as funnel-web tarantulas^[4]) are a group of spiders in the infraorder Mygalomorphae, that have two pairs of booklungs, and chelicerae (fangs) that move up and down in a stabbing motion. A number of genera, including that of the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax), used to be classified in this family but have now been moved to Hexathelidae.

Description

Dipluridae lack a rastellum (stout conical spines) on their chelicerae. Their carapace is characterized by the head region not being higher than the thoracic region. Their posterior median spinnerets (silk-extruding organs) are much shorter than their posterior lateral spinnerets, which have three segments, and are elongated (almost as long as their opisthosoma). Most of the species are medium to small-sized spiders, with some, such as the endangered Microhexura montivaga, as small as 3 mm, while others may measure about 15 mm.^[5] The cave species Masteria caeca is eyeless.

Biology

Members of this family often build rather messy funnel-webs. Some build silk-lined burrows instead of webs (Diplura, Trechona, some Linothele sp.). They generally build their retreats in crevices in earthen banks, the bark of trees, under logs or in leaf litter.^[5]

Distribution

Euagrus species in Guadalajara, Mexico

Dipluridae occur almost worldwide in the tropics. Most are found in Central and South America, and many occur in the Australian region. Indothele is found in India and Sri Lanka. Ischnothele is a neotropical genus, but one species occurs only in India. Several genera are found in Africa, with Thelechoris also occurring in Madagascar. Leptothele and Phyxioschema suthepium are endemic to Thailand, with the other Phyxioschema species found in Central Asia. Masteria is widely distributed, with species found in places such as Central America, Fiji, the Philippines, Queensland and New Guinea.^[6]

The common genus in the United States is Euagrus, which builds its webs under stones in wet canyons. It is abundant in such areas as the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Diplurids can be very common in banks and road cuts, such as in Trinidad.

Human interaction

There is no proper proof on the toxicity of their venom, but it is probably wise to avoid direct contact with the larger members (Diplura sp., Harmonicon sp., Linothele sp., and Trechona sp.).

The highly venomous genus Atrax used to be placed in this family, but is now in the Hexathelidae.

Genera

As of October 2016, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following extant (living) genera in the family Dipluridae:^[2]

Allothele Tucker, 1920
Andethele Coyle, 1995
Australothele Raven, 1984
Caledothele Raven, 1991
Carrai Raven, 1984
Cethegus Thorell, 1881
Chilehexops Coyle, 1986
Diplura C. L. Koch, 1850
Euagrus Ausserer, 1875
Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896
Indothele Coyle, 1995
Ischnothele Ausserer, 1875
Lathrothele Benoit, 1965
Leptothele Raven & Schwendinger, 1995
Linothele Karsch, 1879
Masteria L. Koch, 1873
Microhexura Crosby & Bishop, 1925
Namirea Raven, 1984
Phyxioschema Simon, 1889
Stenygrocercus Simon, 1892
Striamea Raven, 1981
Thelechoris Karsch, 1881
Trechona C. L. Koch, 1850
Troglodiplura Main, 1969

Extinct genera and species include:^[7]

†Clostes Menge, 1869 — fossil, Eocene Baltic amber
- †Clostes priscus (Menge, 1869)
†Cretadiplura Selden, 2005 — fossil, Early Cretaceous^[1]
- †Cretadiplura ceara Selden, 2005
†Dinodiplura Selden, 2005 — fossil, Lower Cretaceous^[1]
- †Dinodiplura ambulacra Selden, 2005
†Seldischnoplura Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015 — fossil, Early Cretaceous^[1]
- †Seldischnoplura seldeni Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015
†Edwa Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015 — fossil, Late Triassic (Norian) Blackstone Formation, Australia^[1]
- †Edwa maryae Raven, Jell & Knezour, 2015

References

1 2 3 4 5 Robert J. Raven, Peter A. Jell and Robert A. Knezour (2015). "Edwa maryae gen. et sp. nov. in the Norian Blackstone Formation of the Ipswich Basin—the first Triassic spider (Mygalomorphae) from Australia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 39 (2): 259–263. doi:10.1080/03115518.2015.993300.
1 2 "Family: Dipluridae Simon, 1889", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-10-29
↑ "Currently valid spider genera and species", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-10-29
↑ Raven, R.J. (1985). "The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 182: 1–180.
1 2 Murphy & Murphy 2000
↑ Platnick 2008
↑ Dunlop, J.A.; Penney, D. & Jekel, D. (2016), "A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives, version 16.5" (PDF), World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-10-29

Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Dipluridae

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dipluridae.

Taxonomy, housing and captive breeding of Dipluridae sp. including key to all genera

Extant Araneae families

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida

Suborder Mesothelae

Liphistiidae (segmented spiders)

Suborder Opisthothelae

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List of families of spiders
Spider taxonomy
List of spider common names
Bold are families with more than 1000 species

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.