Biology:Nemesiidae

From HandWiki

Nemesiidae is a family of mygalomorph[1] spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1889,[2] and raised to family status in 1985. Before becoming its own family, it was considered part of "Dipluridae".[3] The family is sometimes referred to as wishbone spiders due to the shape of their burrows.[4]

Description

Burrow of Nemesia cavicola

Nemesiidae are relatively large spiders with robust legs and a body that is nearly three times as long as it is wide. They are darkly colored, brown to black, though some have silvery hairs on their carapace.[5] Atmetochilus females can grow over 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long.

They live in burrows, often with a hinged trapdoor. This door is pushed up while the spider waits for passing prey. They rarely leave their burrows, catching prey and withdrawing as quickly as possible. Some of these burrows have side tubes. For the east-Asian genus Sinopesa it is uncertain whether it builds burrows at all.[6]

Genera

Raveniola chayi, female

As of January 2026, this family includes ten genera and 195 species:[7]

Transferred to other families:[8][9][10][11][12]

Extinct genera

Eodiplurina Petrunkevitch 1922 Florissant Formation, United States, Eocene

References

  1. Raven, R.J. (1987). "A new mygalomorph spider genus from Mexico (Nemesiinae, Nemesiidae, Arachnida)". J. Arachnol. 14: 357–362. http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v14_n3/JoA_v14_p357.pdf. Retrieved 2006-07-26. 
  2. Simon, E. (1889). Arachnides. 
  3. Raven, R.J. (1985). "The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182. 
  4. "Common Names of Arachnids". American Arachnological Society. 2003. p. 38. https://www.americanarachnology.org/fileadmin/documents/arachnids/arachnid_common_names2003.pdf. 
  5. "Find-a-Spider Guide". University of Queensland. 2006-07-07. http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/info/families.htm. 
  6. Murphy, Frances; Murphy, John (2000). An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. 
  7. "Family Nemesiidae Simon, 1889". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. https://wsc.nmbe.ch/family/61. Retrieved 2026-01-17. 
  8. "Family: Pycnothelidae Chamberlin, 1917". Natural History Museum Bern. http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genlist/138. 
  9. "Family: Anamidae Simon, 1889". Natural History Museum Bern. http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genlist/136. 
  10. "Family: Entypesidae Bond, Opatova & Hedin, 2020". Natural History Museum Bern. http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genlist/139. 
  11. "Family: Microstigmatidae Roewer, 1942". Natural History Museum Bern. http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genlist/56. 
  12. "Family: Bemmeridae Simon, 1903". Natural History Museum Bern. http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genlist/137. 

Further reading

  • Pesarini, C. (1988): Revision of the genus Pycnothele (Araneae, Nemesiidae). J. Arachnol. 16: 281-293. PDF
  • Rafael P. Indicatti & Sylvia M. Lucas (2005): Description of a new genus of Nemesiidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) from the Brazilian Cerrado. Zootaxa 1088: 11-16. PDF (Longistylus)
  • Indicatti, Rafael P.; Lucas, Sylvia M.; Ott, Ricardo & Brescovit, Antonio D. (2008): Litter dwelling mygalomorph spiders (Araneae: Microstigmatidae, Nemesiidae) from Araucaria forests in southern Brazil, with the description of five new species. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 25(3): 529-546.

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