Dwarf tarantula
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 A digital drawing of a typical "dwarf tarantula"
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Hexura (Simon, 1884) |
Dwarf tarantulas, also known as sheet funnel-web spiders are a type of spider from the family Mecicobothriidae. Dwarf tarantuls are one of several families of the sub-order Mygalomorphae; this larger group also includes the true tarantulas.
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[edit] Description
Dwarf tarantulas, as the name indicates, appear like other species of tarantula, but are physically much smaller. Many specimens are smaller than 1 cm in length, and the largest in the family are seldom larger than 2 cm. The spiders, like all Mygalomorphae, have downward pointing fangs; dwarf tarantulas also have long spinnerets.
[edit] Habitat and range
Many dwarf tarantulas make loose sheet webs around debris, living close to the soil in cracks or under rocks or other objects. It is expected that they have similar capturing techniques to funnel-web tarantulas.
All but two species of dwarf tarantula (Mecicobothrium baccai and Mecicobothrium thorelli) are native to North America, with most of them native to the United States. Hexurella encina is native to Mexico, and M. thorelli is a South American species, found in Argentina and Uruguay
Hexura picea and H. rothi are known to occur in the Pacific Northwest; Hexurella rupicola and Megahexura fulva are known to occur in California. H. apachea and H. pinea are found in Arizona.
[edit] Classification
There are currently only 4 recognized genera and 9 recognized species in this family. These are:
Hexura Simon, 1884
- Hexura picea Simon, 1884 (USA)
- Hexura rothi Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 (USA)
Hexurella Gertsch & Platnick, 1979
- Hexurella apachea Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 (USA)
- Hexurella encina Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 (Mexico)
- Hexurella pinea Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 (USA)
- Hexurella rupicola Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 (USA)
Mecicobothrium Holmberg, 1882
- Mecicobothrium baccai Lucas et al., 2006 (Brazil)
- Mecicobothrium thorelli Holmberg, 1882 (Argentina, Uruguay)
Megahexura Kaston, 1972
- Megahexura fulva (Chamberlin, 1919) (USA)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Costa, F.G. & Pérez-Miles, F. (1998). Behavior, life cycle, and webs of Mecicobothrium thorelli, The Journal of Arachnology 26:317-329 PDF
- Gertsch, W.G. & Platnick, N.I. (1979). A revision of the spider family Mecicobothriidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae). American Museum novitates 2687 PDF (14Mb) - Abstract
[edit] References
- Norman I. Platnick, World Spider Catalog: Mecicobothriidae
- Lucas, Sylvia Marlene; Indicatti, Rafael Prezzi; Brescovit, Antonio Domingos; Francisco, Rafael Carlo (2006). "First record of the Mecicobothriidae Holmberg from Brazil, with a description of a new species of Mecicobothrium (Aranea, Mygalomorphae)". Zootaxa 1326: 45-53.
