Uloboridae

Uloboridae
Uloborus plumipes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Chelicerata
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Infraorder:Araneomorphae
Family:Uloboridae
Thorell, 1869
Diversity
18 genera, 262 species

Uloboridae is a family of nonvenomous spiders, known as cribellate orb weavers or hackled orb weavers. Their lack of venom glands is a secondarily evolved trait. Instead, they wrap their prey thoroughly in silk, cover it in regurgitated digestive enzymes, and then ingest the liquified body.[1]

All members of this family produce a feathery, fuzzy silk called cribellate (or hackled) silk.[2] These spiders do not use an adhesive on their orb webs, but rather the very fine fibers on each strand of silk tend to ensnare prey. Uloboridae webs often have a stabilimentum or zig-zag pattern through the center.

Distribution

This family has an almost worldwide distribution. Only two species are known from Northern Europe: Uloborus walckenaerius and Hyptiotes paradoxus. Similarly occurring solely in northern North America (e.g. southern Ontario) is Uloborus glomosus.

Genera

See also

References

  1. http://www.stri.si.edu/sites/publications/PDFs/2006_Weng_et_a_Can_JZool.pdf
  2. Jonathan A. Coddington & Herbert W. Levi (1991). "Systematics and evolution of spiders (Araneae)" (PDF). Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 22: 565–592. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.22.1.565. JSTOR 2097274. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-02.
  • Brent D. Opell (1984). "Lubinella, a new genus of Uloboridae (Arachnida, Araneae)" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 11: 441–446. JSTOR 3705054.
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