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Ricinulei
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ricinuleid, Hooded tickspider
Ricinulei is a small order of arachnids. Like most arachnids, they are predatory; eating small arthropods. They occur today in west-central Africa (Ricinoides) and the Americas (Cryptocellus and Pseudocellus) from Brazil to southern Texas, where they inhabit either leaf-litter or caves. As of 2022, 103 extant species of ricinuleids have been described worldwide, all in the single family Ricinoididae. Due to their obscurity they do not have a proper common-name, though in academic literature they are occasionally referred to as hooded tickspiders.
Species
ORDER
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassArachnida
- OrderRicinulei
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 27
- Collections
- FMNH, MNRJ
- Recorded in
- Panamá, Ecuador, Costa Rica
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Anatomy and physiology
- Body
- Appendages
- Internal anatomy
- Distribution
- Behavior and life history
- Fossil record
- Genera
- Relationships
- Early work
- Ricinuleids and mites
- Ricinuleids and trigonotarbids
- Phylogenomic studies
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Ricinulei is a small order of arachnids. Like most arachnids, they are predatory; eating small arthropods. They occur today in west-central Africa (Ricinoides) and the Americas (Cryptocellus and Pseudocellus) from Brazil to southern Texas, where they inhabit either leaf-litter or caves. As of 2022, 103 extant species of ricinuleids have been described worldwide, all in the single family Ricinoididae. Due to their obscurity they do not have a proper common-name, though in academic literature they are occasionally referred to as hooded tickspiders.
In addition to the three living genera, Ricinulei has a fossil-record spanning over 300 million years, including fossils from the Late Carboniferous of Euramerica and the Cretaceous Burmese amber.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ricinulei” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.