Atypical tarantula
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| Atypical tarantulas | ||||||||||||||
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The atypical tarantulas or purseweb spiders (family Atypidae) consist of only three genera.
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[edit] Distribution
In the North America these are Sphodros and Atypus, in Asia and Africa there are Atypus and Calommata, and only Atypus in Europe[1].
Atypus affinis, A. muralis and A. piceus are the only species of this family found in northwestern Europe.
[edit] Biology
Atypus builds a silken tube parallel to the surface of the ground, While up to 8 cm of the tube lie on the ground, about 20 cm are buried vertically. The spider rests at the bottom of the tube. When prey walks on the exposed part, the spider, alerted by the vibrations, stabs it through the silk, cuts the web and drags it inside to be eaten. Calommata, instead of building a purse web, lives in a burrow.[2] Sphodros usually props its tubes against a tree trunk.
Atypical tarantulas have huge chelicerae for their size and relatively long spinnerets (although not as long as those found in diplurids). The males are sometimes brightly colored and wander around looking for females in their tubes. The females are reddish-brown or dark-colored.
Southeast Asian Atypus species have a body length of 7 to 21 mm in females, and about 12 mm in males. Calommata of this region grow from 23 to 30 mm in females, and only about 7 mm in males. [2]
[edit] Genera
- Atypus Latreille, 1804 — Britain to Ukraine, Asia, North Africa, USA (29 species)
- Calommata Lucas, 1837 — Asia, Africa (7 species)
- Sphodros Walckenaer, 1835 — USA, Mexico (7 species)
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.
[edit] External links
