Ctenizidae
Template:Short description Template:For multi Template:Automatic taxobox
Ctenizidae (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell)<ref name="webster" /> is a small family of mygalomorph spiders that construct burrows with a cork-like trapdoor made of soil, vegetation, and silk. They may be called trapdoor spiders, as are other, similar species, such as those of the families Liphistiidae, Barychelidae, and Cyrtaucheniidae, and some species in the Idiopidae and Nemesiidae. The name comes from the distinctive behavior of the spiders to construct trapdoors, and ambush prey from beneath them.<ref name="buchli1969" />
In 2018, the family Halonoproctidae was split off from the Ctenizidae.<ref name=wsc/> A further genus, Stasimopus, was split off into its own family, Stasimopidae, in 2020.<ref name=wsc /><ref name=OpatHamiHediMont20 /> The family currently consists of two genera and five species.<ref name=WSC_stats />
Etymology
The name derives from Greek Template:Lang ktenizein, meaning "combing" or "cleaning", referring to their behaviour of cleaning continuously, and the suffix "-idae", which designates belonging to a family.Template:Citation needed
Taxonomy
The family Ctenizidae was first described by Thorell in 1887, being based on the genus Cteniza.<ref name=wsc /> Since the advent of molecular phylogenetics and its application to spiders, the family has been progressively dismantled;<ref name=GodwOpatGarrHami18 /> the World Spider Catalog lists over 100 genera formerly placed in Ctenizidae but now transferred to other families.<ref name=wsc /> The Halonoproctidae were split off in 2018, leaving only three genera. Even so, the family was not monophyletic, since Stasimopus is not in the same clade as the other two genera, according to a 2018 study (the three genera left in the Ctenizidae at that time are shaded in yellow):<ref name=GodwOpatGarrHami18 />
In 2020, a large scale molecular phylogenetic study confirmed the placement of Stasimopus outside the clade consisting of Cteniza and Cyrtocarenum, and transferred it to its own family, Stasimopidae.<ref name=OpatHamiHediMont20 /> This placement is accepted by the World Spider Catalog Template:As of.<ref name=wsc />
Genera
Template:As of, this family includes two genera:<ref name="wsc" /> Template:Div col
- Extinct genera
- †Baltocteniza Eskov & Zonstein, 2000 Early Eocene Baltic amber<ref name="Eskov2000" />
- †Electrocteniza Eskov & Zonstein, 2000 Early Eocene Baltic amber<ref name="Eskov2000" />
Distribution and habitat
The two genera of Ctenizidae are found in Europe and Turkey, particularly in France and Italy.<ref name=wsc /> Like many other mygalomorphs, Cteniza have highly localized distributions. This results in clumps of spider burrows a short distance from their maternal burrows, resulting in a dense cluster of spiders surrounding a large female.<ref name="hormiga2020" />
See also
References
Further reading
- Raven, R.J. 1985 The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182: 1-180.
- Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
- Template:Aut (2003): The trapdoor spider family Ctenizidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Taiwan. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 51(1): 25-33. PDF Template:Webarchive (Ummidia and Latouchia)