Dwarf tarantula
| Dwarf tarantulas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Megahexura fulva | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: | Mecicobothriidae Holmberg, 1882 |
| Genera | |
|
Hexura (Simon, 1884) | |
| Diversity | |
| 4 genera, 9 species | |
 | |
Dwarf tarantulas, also known as sheet funnel-web spiders are a type of spider from the family Mecicobothriidae. Dwarf tarantulas are one of several families of the sub-order Mygalomorphae; this larger group also includes the true tarantulas.
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.
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
See also
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
- 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)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1326: 45–53.
- Platnick, Norman I. (2014): The world spider catalog, version 14.5. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.iz.0001
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