Antrodiaetidae

folding trapdoor spiders
Antrodiaetus unicolor, female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Mygalomorphae
Superfamily: Atypoidea
Family: Antrodiaetidae
Gertsch, 1940
Genera

Aliatypus Smith, 1908
Antrodiaetus Ausserer, 1871

Diversity
2 genera, 32 species

Antrodiaetidae is a small spider family, known as folding trapdoor spiders. There are about 30 species in two genera (Aliatypus and Antrodiaetus). They are related to the Atypidae (atypical tarantulas).

Distribution

Antrodiaetids are found almost exclusively in the United States, in the west (California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho), the midwest (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois), and the east (centered in the Appalachian mountains).

Two species (Antrodiaetus roretzi and A. yesoensis) are endemic to Japan. They are considered relict species; two separate vicariance events probably led to the evolution of these two species (Miller & Coyle, 1996).

The three species of the former genus Atypoides are now included in the genus Antrodiaetus (Hendrixson & Bond, 2007).

See also

References

    Wikispecies has information related to: Antrodiaetidae
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