Desidae

Desidae
Badumna insignis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Chelicerata
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Infraorder:Araneomorphae
Family:Desidae
Pocock, 1895[1]
Genera

See text.

Diversity[2]
60 genera, 297 species

Desidae is a family of spiders, some of which are known as intertidal spiders. The family is named for the genus Desis, members of which live in a very unusual location — between the tides. The family has been reevaluated in recent years and now includes inland genera and species as well, such as Badumna and Phryganoporus. In 2017, the family Amphinectidae was merged into Desidae. The family Toxopidae has been separated off. Those intertidal spiders that are truly marine commonly live in barnacle shells, which they seal up with silk; this allows them to maintain an air bubble during high tide. They emerge at night to feed on various small arthropods that live in the intertidal zone.

Genera

As of May 2018, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following genera:[1]

Distribution

As now circumscribed, the family Desidae is mainly found in South America and Australasia, with some species reaching north to Malaysia.[1]

Metaltella simoni has been introduced in a large part of the Southern United States (records exist from California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida) and is considered an invasive species in Florida. It is feared that it could extirpate the native titanoecid species Titanoeca brunnea.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Family: Desidae Pocock, 1895", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2018-05-12
  2. ↑ "Currently valid spider genera and species", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2018-05-12
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