Archaeidæ
Sign in to saveAlso known as Archaeidae, Pelican spider
Archaeidae, also known as assassin spiders and pelican spiders, is a spider family with about ninety described species in five genera. It contains small spiders, ranging from long, that prey exclusively on other spiders. They are unusual in that they have "necks", ranging from long and slender to short and thick. The name "pelican spider" refers to these elongated jaws and necks used to catch their prey. Living species of Archaeidae occur in South Africa, Madagascar and Australia, with the sister family Mecysmaucheniidae occurring in southern South America and New Zealand.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassArachnida
- OrderAraneae
- FamilyArchaeidae
via GBIF
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Archaeoidea
- Image
- Austrarchaea sp..jpg
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Archaeidae
- taxon rank
- family
- taxon name
- Archaeidae
- topic's main category
- Category:Archaeidae
- start time
- 161000000-
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Genera
- Extant genera
- Fossils
- Phylogeny
- References
- External links
Archaeidae, also known as assassin spiders and pelican spiders, is a spider family with about ninety described species in five genera. It contains small spiders, ranging from long, that prey exclusively on other spiders. They are unusual in that they have "necks", ranging from long and slender to short and thick. The name "pelican spider" refers to these elongated jaws and necks used to catch their prey. Living species of Archaeidae occur in South Africa, Madagascar and Australia, with the sister family Mecysmaucheniidae occurring in southern South America and New Zealand.
female Afrarchaea cornuta|thumb|left
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Archaeidæ” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.