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)
Hexurella (Gertsch & Platnick, 1979)
Mecicobothrium (Holmberg, 1882)
Megahexura (Kaston, 1972)

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 very similar to tarantulas, 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

Hexurella Gertsch & Platnick, 1979

Mecicobothrium Holmberg, 1882

  • Mecicobothrium baccai Lucas et al., 2006 — Brazil
  • Mecicobothrium thorelli Holmberg, 1882 — Argentina, Uruguay

Megahexura Kaston, 1972

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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