Barychelidae

Brushed-footed trap-door spiders
Sason robustum with nest
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Mygalomorphae
Infraorder: Tuberculotae
Superfamily: Barycheloidea
Family: Barychelidae
Simon, 1889
Genera

Barychelus
Cyphonisia
Paracenobiopelma
Nihoa
Sason
many more

Diversity
44 genera, c. 300 species
burrow of Trichopelma astuta

The brushed trapdoor spiders (family Barychelidae) are a spider family with about 300 species in 44 genera.[1] This family is the only family in superfamily Barycheloidea.[2]

Most spiders in this family build trapdoor burrows. There are some species that avoid flooding by plugging their nests. Others can avoid drowning by trapping air bubbles within the hairs covering their bodies. Some members of this group have a rake on the front surface of their chelicerae used for compacting burrow walls.[3]

The about 10 mm long Idioctis builds its about 5 cm deep burrow just below high tide level, and seals it with a thin trapdoor. The about 20 mm long Sipalolasma builds its burrow in rotted wood, with a hinged trapdoor at each end of the burrow.[4]

Like the Theraphosidae (tarantulas), they can run up glass. Some species can stridulate.[5] However, unlike stridulation in the theraphosid Selenocosmiinae, barychelid stridulation, based as it is on very weak lyra, is not audible to man.

Distribution

Barychelids are found in Australia, New Caledonia, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, New Guinea, and Pacific islands.[1]

Systematics

The classification into subfamilies follows Raven (1985, 1994).[5][6]

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Platnick 2008
  2. Raven, R.J. 1985. The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182: 1-180.
  3. Herbert W. Levi and Lorna R. Levi, Spiders and Their Kin,, p. 20
  4. Murphy & Murphy 2000
  5. 5.0 5.1 Raven, R.J. 1994 Mygalomorph spiders of the Barychelidae in Australia and the Western Pacific. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 35(2): 291-706.
  6. Raven, R.J. 1985. The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182: 1-180.
  7. Raven, R.J. 1985. The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182: 1-180.

References

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Barychelidae