Specimen image via iDigBio
Deinopidae
Sign in to saveDeinopidae, also known as net-casting spiders, are a family of circumtropical cribellate spiders first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850. They are of stick-like elongated spiders that catch prey by stretching a web across their front legs before propelling themselves forward. These unusual webs will stretch two or three times their relaxed size, entangling any prey that touch them.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassArachnida
- OrderAraneae
- FamilyDeinopidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 224
- With media
- 1
- Family
- Deinopidae
- Collections
- FMNH, NMV, UNM, TTU, AM, QM
- Recorded in
- Bolivia, Australia, Zambia, Virgin Islands, British, New Caledonia, Madagascar
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Uloboroidea
- Image
- Net-casting spider.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- taxon rank
- family
- Commons category
- Deinopidae
- taxon name
- Deinopidae
- topic's main category
- Category:Deinopidae
- taxon common name
- Ogrefaced spider
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Distribution
- Genera
- References
- External links
Deinopidae, also known as net-casting spiders, are a family of circumtropical cribellate spiders first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850. They are of stick-like elongated spiders that catch prey by stretching a web across their front legs before propelling themselves forward. These unusual webs will stretch two or three times their relaxed size, entangling any prey that touch them.
The posterior median eyes have excellent night vision, allowing them to cast nets accurately in low-light conditions. These eyes are larger than the others, and sometimes makes these spiders appear to only have two eyes. Ogre-faced spiders (Deinopis) are the best known genus in this family. The name refers to the perceived physical similarity to the mythological creature of the same name. This family also includes the humped-back spiders (Menneus).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Deinopidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.