| Dwarf Tarantulas | ||||||||||||||
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 Megahexura fulva
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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Hexura (Simon, 1884) |
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| 4 genera, 9 species | ||||||||||||||
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Dwarf tarantulas, also known as sheet funnel-web spiders are a type of spider from the family Mecicobothriidae. Dwarf tarantulas are one of several families of the sub-order Mygalomorphae; this larger group also includes the true tarantulas.
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Description
Dwarf tarantulas, as the name indicates, appear like other species of tarantula, but are physically much smaller. Many specimens are smaller than 1 cm in length, and the largest in the family are seldom larger than 2 cm. The spiders, like all Mygalomorphae, have downward pointing fangs; dwarf tarantulas also have long spinnerets.
Classification
There are currently only 4 recognized genera and 9 recognized species in this family. These are:
Hexura Simon, 1884
- Hexura picea Simon, 1884 — USA
- Hexura rothi Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 — USA
Hexurella Gertsch & Platnick, 1979
- Hexurella apachea Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 — USA
- Hexurella encina Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 — Mexico
- Hexurella pinea Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 — USA
- Hexurella rupicola Gertsch & Platnick, 1979 — USA
Mecicobothrium Holmberg, 1882
- Mecicobothrium baccai Lucas et al., 2006 — Brazil
- Mecicobothrium thorelli Holmberg, 1882 — Argentina, Uruguay
Megahexura Kaston, 1972
- Megahexura fulva (Chamberlin, 1919) — USA
See also
References
- Costa, F.G. & Pérez-Miles, F. (1998). Behavior, life cycle, and webs of Mecicobothrium thorelli, The Journal of Arachnology 26:317-329 PDF
- Gertsch, W.G. & Platnick, N.I. (1979). A revision of the spider family Mecicobothriidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae). American Museum novitates 2687 PDF (14Mb) - Abstract
- Lucas, Sylvia Marlene; Indicatti, Rafael Prezzi; Brescovit, Antonio Domingos; Francisco, Rafael Carlo (2006). "First record of the Mecicobothriidae Holmberg from Brazil, with a description of a new species of Mecicobothrium (Aranea, Mygalomorphae)". Zootaxa 1326: 45–53. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01326p053f.pdf.
- Platnick, Norman I. (2009): The world spider catalog, version 10.0. American Museum of Natural History.
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