Prodidomidae is a family of spider, sometimes called long-spinneret ground spiders. It was formerly regarded as a subfamily of Gnaphosidae, but was raised to a family in 2022.[1]
Spiders in the family are easily identified by the greatly elongated base of the piriform gland spigots. At least parts of their body are covered with shiny scales or setae. The posterior median eyes are flat and silvery, with a triangular, egg-shaped or irregularly rectangular shape.[2]
Biology
Spiders in the Prodidomidae are ground dwellers. Most species are nocturnal and hide during the day in litter, but Myandra species, which are probably mimicking ants, seem to be active during the day.[2] The genus Zimiris is synanthropic and thus found throughout the tropics.
Distribution
Although Theuma walteri was described from Turkmenistan by Eugène Simon, it is suspected that Simon accidentally exchanged its locality with that of Anagraphis pallens (Gnaphosidae); then T. walteri would have been collected in the Cape of Good Hope, while A. pallens is from Turkmenistan.[3]
^ a b"NMBE - World Spider Catalog". wsc.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
^ a bBarbara Baehr: Prodidomidae
^Platnick & Baehr 2006
^ a bRodrigues, Bruno V. B.; Rheims, Cristina A. (2020). "Phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily Prodidominae (Arachnida: Araneae: Gnaphosidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 190 (2): 654–708. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa013.
Bibliography
Platnick, N.I. & Penney, D. (2004): A Revision of the Widespread Spider Genus Zimiris (Araneae, Prodidomidae). American Museum Novitates3450.
Platnick, Norman I. & Baehr, Barbara C. (2006): A revision of the Australasian ground spiders of the family Prodidomidae (Araneae, Gnaphosoidea). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History298: 1-287. (with keys to subfamilies and genera, and picture)
Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.
External links
Wikispecies has information related to Prodidomidae.
Picture of Molycria flavipes
This Gnaphosidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.