Archaeidae
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The Archaeidae are a spider family with 25 described species in three genera. Nine new species have been found in Madagascar, but have not yet been described.
Their common name pelican spider stems from their specialised anatomy: They evolved elongated jaws and neck for catching other spiders.
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[edit] Distribution
Archaeidae occur in South Africa, Madagascar and Australia. The Archaea are a Gondwana group.
[edit] Assassin spiders
Assassin spiders are a group of spiders of the family Archaeidae, which are extremely unusual in that they have very long necks vertically separating their head from their thorax by nearly the length of their body itself. They prey upon other spiders, snagging them by surprise with fangs that are proportionately many times larger than those of any other spider. Assassin spiders were first known from 40 million year old examples trapped in amber, which were found in Europe in the 1840s, and were not known to have living varieties until 1881. They are native to Australia and Africa (including Madagascar), with one species occurring in South America. They are only known to grow to 6 mm (1/4 inch) in size[1].
[edit] Species
- Archaeinae
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- Afrarchaea Forster & Platnick, 1984
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- Afrarchaea bergae Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea entabeniensis Lotz, 2003 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea fernkloofensis Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea fisheri Lotz, 2003 — Madagascar
- Afrarchaea godfreyi (Hewitt, 1919) — South Africa, Madagascar
- Afrarchaea haddadi Lotz, 2006 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea harveyi Lotz, 2003 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea kranskopensis Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea lawrencei Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea mahariraensis Lotz, 2003 — Madagascar
- Afrarchaea ngomensis Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea royalensis Lotz, 2006 — South Africa
- Afrarchaea woodae Lotz, 2006 — South Africa
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- Austrarchaea Forster & Platnick, 1984
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- Austrarchaea daviesae Forster & Platnick, 1984 — Queensland
- Austrarchaea hickmani (Butler, 1929) — Victoria
- Austrarchaea mainae Platnick, 1991 — Western Australia
- Austrarchaea nodosa (Forster, 1956) — Queensland
- Austrarchaea robinsi Harvey, 2002 — Western Australia
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- Eriauchenius O. P.-Cambridge, 1881
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- Eriauchenius bourgini (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius cornutus (Lotz, 2003) — South Africa
- Eriauchenius gracilicollis (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius jeanneli (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius legendrei (Platnick, 1991) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius pauliani (Legendre, 1970) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius ratsirarsoni (Lotz, 2003) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius tsingyensis (Lotz, 2003) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius vadoni (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
- Eriauchenius workmani O. P.-Cambridge, 1881 — Madagascar
- Jurarchaeinae Eskov, 1987 † (fossil)
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- Jurarchaea Eskov, 1987 †
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- Jurarchaea zherikhini Eskov, 1987 †
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Penney D. (2003) Afrarchaea grimaldii, a new species of Archaeidae (Araneae) in Cretaceous Burmese amber. Journal of Arachnology 31, 122-130. PDF
- Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.
[edit] External links
- "Tiny Assassins" at California Academy of Sciences
- National Geographic Photo in the News: Bizarre Assassin Spiders Discovered in Madagascar
- Large image of Eriauchenius gracilicollis
