Psechridae

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Psechridae
Fecenia cylindrata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Infraorder: Entelegynae
Superfamily: Lycosoidea
Family: Psechridae
James, 1989
Genera

see text

Diversity
2 genera, 24 species

The Psechridae are a family of spiders with about 50 species in two extant genera, recently revised by Bayer (2011, 2012).

They belong to the "RTA" clade of spiders, spiders that all have a Retrolateral Tibial Apophysis on the male pedipalp. A recent phylogenetic analysis places Psechridae as close relatives of the Lynx spiders (Oxyopidae), as well as wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) (Agnarsson et al. 2013). With body lengths of up to 2 cm and funnel webs more than 1 m in diameter, they are among the biggest cribellate spiders. Psechrids construct cribellate webs and Fecenia construct webs that are similar to orb webs of Orbiculariae spiders, a remarkable example of evolutionary convergence (Blackledge et al. 2012, Agnarsson et al. 2013). Psecrhidae spiders are only found in SE Asia, where they occur in forests from lowland to altitudes exceeding 2000m. Female Psechrus carry their egg-sac in the chelicerae, similar to their relatives, the ecribellate Pisauridae. They feature several characteristics normally found in ecribellate spiders, for example brood care behavior, and a colulus with no apparent function (Fang et al. 2000).

Habits

Psechridae occur in forests, rocky areas, and caves, constructing horizontal webs lace webs (Psechrus) or pseudo-orbs (Fecenia). They have greatly elongated legs, with the last element being very flexible.

Distribution

They occur in SE Asia, ranging from India in the west, to Salomon islands in the east, reaching as far south as northern Australia, and north to central China.

Genera

  • Eomatachia Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (fossil, oligocene)
  • Eomatachia latifrons Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (baltic amber)
  • Fecenia james, 1887
  • Fecenia cylindrata Thorell, 1895 — China, Myanmar
  • Fecenia macilenta (james, 1989) — Malaysia
  • Fecenia nicobarensis (Tikader, 1977) — Nicobar Islands
  • Fecenia ochracea (Doleschall, 1859) — Philippines to Queensland
  • Fecenia travancoria Pocock, 1899 — India to Sumatra
  • Psechrus argentatus (Doleschall, 1859) — Malaysia to Queensland
  • Psechrus borneo Levi, 1982 — Borneo
  • Psechrus cebu Murphy, 1986 — Philippines
  • Psechrus ghecuanus Thorell, 1897 — India, Myanmar, Thailand, China
  • Psechrus himalayanus james, 1989 — India, Nepal
  • Psechrus jinggangensis Wang & Yin, 2001 — China
  • Psechrus khammouan Jäger, 2007 — Laos
  • Psechrus kinabalu Levi, 1982 — Borneo
  • Psechrus kunmingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China
  • Psechrus luangprabang Jäger, 2007 — Laos
  • Psechrus marsyandi Levi, 1982 — Nepal
  • Psechrus mulu Levi, 1982 — Borneo
  • Psechrus rani Wang & Yin, 2001 — China
  • Psechrus senoculatus Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China
  • Psechrus sinensis Berland & Berland, 1914 — China
  • Psechrus singaporensis Thorell, 1894 — China, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra
  • Psechrus taiwanensis Wang & Yin, 2001 — Taiwan
  • Psechrus tingpingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China, Vietnam
  • Psechrus torvus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1869) — Sri Lanka, India, China, Taiwan
  • Psechrus triangulus Yang et al., 2003 — China
  • Psechrus xinping Chen et al., 2002 — China

See also

References

  • Agnarsson, I., Gregorič, M., Blackledge, T.A., Kuntner, M. (2013) Phylogenetic placement of Psechridae and the convergent origin of orb-like spider webs. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 51: xxx-xxx
  • Bayer, S. (2011) Revision of the pseudo-orbweavers of the genus Fecenia Simon, 1887 (Araneae, Psechridae), with emphasis on their preepigyne. Zookeys 153:1–56.
  • Bayer, S. (2012) The lace-sheet-weavers—a long story (Araneae: Psechridae: Psechrus). Zootaxa 3379: 1–170
  • Blackledge, T.A., Kuntner, M., Agnarsson, I. (2012) Biomaterial evolution parallels behavioral innovation in the origin of orb-like spider webs. Scientific Reports 2: 833
  • Fang, K., Yang, C.-C., Lue, B.-W., Chen, S.H., Lue, K.-Y. (2000) Phylogenetic Corroboration of Superfamily Lycosoidae Spiders (Araneae) as Inferred from Partial Mitochondrial 12S and 16S Ribosomal DNA Sequences. Zoological Studies 39(2): 107-113. PDF
  • Wang, X.P. & Yin, C.M. (2001). A review of the Chinese Psechridae (Araneae). J. Arachnol. 29: 330-344. PDF
  • Willis J. Gertsch: American Spiders, 2nd edition., Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1979. ISBN 0-442-22649-7
  • Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.

Further reading

  • Levi, H.W. (1982). The spider genera Psechrus and Fecenia (Araneae, Psechridae). Pacific Insects 24: 114-138. - revision of the family
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