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Arachnids Of Africa
Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroons. Almost all adult arachnids have eight legs, although the front pair of legs in some species has converted to a sensory function, while in other species, different appendages can grow large enough to take on the appearance of extra pairs of legs. The term is derived from the Greek word (''aráchnē'', 'spider'), from the myth of the hubristic human weaver Arachne, who was turned into a spider. Almost all extant arachnids are terrestrial, living mainly on land. However, some inhabit freshwater environments and, with the exception of the pelagic zone, marine environments as well. They comprise over 100,000 named species, of which 47,000 are species of spiders. Morphology Almost all adult arachnids have eight legs, unlike adult insects ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phidippus Mystaceus
''Phidippus mystaceus'' is a species of jumping spider that is found in North America. Females grow to about in body length. Etymology The species name is derived from the Ancient Greek ''mystax'', meaning "moustache", which the females of this species feature. An older synonym of the species is ''P. asinarius'', referring to the markings above the eyes that look similar to donkey ears. File:Mystaceus.jpg, Adult female File:Mystaceus_eyes.jpg, Anterior median eyes of an adult female File:Adult Male Phidippus mystaceus feeding on a Chrysopid.png, Adult male feeding on a Chrysopidae, Chrysopid References Further reading *Roach, S.H. (1988). Reproductive periods of ''Phidippus'' species (Araneae, Salticidae) in South Carolina. ''Journal of Arachnology'' 16:95-101PDF External links Many pictures of ''P. mystaceus'' at BugGuide Salticidae Spiders of North America Spiders described in 1846 Taxa named by Nicholas Marcellus Hentz {{salticidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biological evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws. Lamarck fought in the Seven Years' War against Prussia, and was awarded a commission for bravery on the battlefield. Posted to Monaco, Lamarck became interested in natural history and resolved to study medicine. Packard (1901), p. 15. He retired from the army after being injured in 1766, and returned to his medical studies. Lamarck developed a particular interest in botany, and later, after he published the three-volume work ''Flore françoise'' (1778), he gained membership of the French Academy of Sciences in 1779. Lamarck became involved in the Jardin des Plantes and was appointed to the Chair of Botany in 1788. When the French National Assembly founded the Muséum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thelyphonida
Thelyphonida is an arachnid order comprising invertebrates commonly known as whip scorpions or vinegaroons (also spelled vinegarroons and vinegarones). They are often called uropygids in the scientific community based on an alternative name for the order, Uropygi (which may then also include the order Schizomida). The name "whip scorpion" refers to their resemblance to true scorpions and possession of a whiplike tail, and "vinegaroon" refers to their ability when attacked to discharge an offensive, vinegar-smelling liquid, which contains acetic acid. Taxonomy Carl Linnaeus first described a whip scorpion in 1758, although he did not distinguish it from what are now regarded as different kinds of arachnid, calling it ''Phalangium caudatum''. '' Phalangium'' is now used as a name for a genus of harvestmen (Opiliones). In 1802, Pierre André Latreille was the first to use a genus name solely for whip scorpions, namely ''Thelyphonus''. Latreille later explained the name as meaning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palpigradi
Palpigrades, commonly known as microwhip scorpions, are arachnids belonging to the order Palpigradi. Description Palpigrades belong to the arachnid class. They are the sister group to Solifugae, no more than in length, and averaging . They have a thin, pale, segmented integument, and a segmented abdomen that terminates in a whip-like flagellum. This is made up of 15 segment-like parts, or "articles", and may make up as much as half the animal's length. Each article of the flagellum bears bristles, giving the whole flagellum the appearance of a bottle brush. The carapace is divided into two plates between the third and fourth leg pair of legs. They have no eyes. As in some other arachnids, the first pair of legs is modified to serve as sensory organs, and are held clear of the ground while walking. Often, however, palpigrades use their pedipalps for locomotion, so that the animal appears to be walking on five pairs of legs. But they do not swing in phase with the walking legs, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schizomida
Schizomida (common name shorttailed whipscorpion) is an order of arachnids, generally less than in length. The order is not yet widely studied. About 300 species of schizomids have been described worldwide, most belonging to the Hubbardiidae family. A systematic review including a full catalogue may be found in Reddell & Cokendolpher (1995). The Schizomida is sister to the order Uropygi, the two clades together forming the Thelyphonida. Based on molecular clock dates, both orders likely originated in the late Carboniferous somewhere in the tropics of Pangea, and the Schizomida underwent substantial diversification starting in the Cretaceous. The oldest known fossils of the group are from the Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber of Myanmar, which are assignable to the Hubbardiidae. E. O. Wilson has identified schizomids as among the "groups of organisms that desperately need experts to work on them." Taxonomy Schizomids are grouped into three families: * Calcitronidae † (fossil) (dubi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haptopoda
''Plesiosiro'' is an extinct arachnid genus known exclusively from nine specimens from the Upper Carboniferous of Coseley, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. The genus is monotypic, represented only by the species ''Plesiosiro madeleyi'' described by Reginald Innes Pocock in his important 1911 monograph on British Carboniferous arachnids. It is the only known member of the order Haptopoda. The original fossils have been redescribed in detail by Alexander Petrunkevitch in 1949 and Dunlop in 1999. A supposed example from the Coal Measures of Lancashire is a misidentification. Relationships Relationships with other arachnids are obscure. ''Plesiosiro'' means "close to '' Siro''", which is a genus of cyphophthalmid (Cyphophthalmi); the most primitive group of the living harvestmen (Opiliones). These harvestmen do, in some ways, resemble the reconstructed body plan of the haptopods. Revisions have confirmed that Haptopoda should be treated as a separate and independent order. A 2007 stud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every land habitat. , 50,356 spider species in 132 families have been recorded by taxonomists. However, there has been debate among scientists about how families should be classified, with over 20 different classifications proposed since 1900. Anatomically, spiders (as with all arachnids) differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax or prosoma, and the opisthosoma, or abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel, however, as there is currently neither paleontological nor embryological evidence that spiders ever had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uraraneida
Uraraneida is an extinct order of arachnids, known from fossils of Middle Devonian, Permian and possibly Cretaceous age. Two genera of fossils have been definitively placed in this order: ''Attercopus'' from the Devonian of United States and ''Permarachne'' from the Permian of Russia. In 2018, a third genus ''Chimerarachne'', from the Cretaceous of Myanmar was proposed to belong to this group, but this placement is disputed. When the first fossils were found, they were identified as spiders, but now constitute the Uraraneida, a separate but closely related group. Characteristics The first fossil now placed in the order was found in Gilboa, New York. In 1987, it was initially tentatively placed in the extinct order Trigonotarbida and named ''Gelasinotarbus''? ''fimbriunguis''. Later, partly on the basis of a supposed spinneret (spider), spinneret, it was identified as a spider and named ''Attercopus fimbriunguis''. Further specimens of this species were found, and when examined in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trigonotarbida
The order Trigonotarbida is a group of extinct arachnids whose fossil record extends from the late Silurian to the early Permian ( Pridoli to Sakmarian).Dunlop, J. A., Penney, D. & Jekel, D. 2020A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives In World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, version 20.5 These animals are known from several localities in Europe and North America, as well as a single record from Argentina. Trigonotarbids can be envisaged as spider-like arachnids, but without silk-producing spinnerets. They ranged in size from a few millimetres to a few centimetres in body length and had segmented abdomens (opisthosoma), with the dorsal exoskeleton (tergites) across the backs of the animals' abdomens, which were characteristically divided into three or five separate plates. Probably living as predators on other arthropods, some later trigonotarbid species were quite heavily armoured and protected themselves with spines and tube ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phalangiotarbi
Phalangiotarbi ( Haase, 1890) is an extinct arachnid order first recorded from the Early Devonian of Germany and most widespread in the Upper Carboniferous coal measures of Europe and North America. The last species are known from the early Permian Rotliegend of Germany. The affinities of phalangiotarbids are obscure, with most authors favouring affinities with Opiliones (harvestmen) and/or Acari (mites and ticks). Phalangiotarbida has been recently (2004) proposed to be sister group to (Palpigradi+Tetrapulmonata): the taxon Megoperculata sensu Shultz (1990). '' Nemastomoides depressus'', described as a harvestman in the family Nemastomoididae, is actually a poorly preserved phalangiotarbid.Dunlop ''in'' Pinto-da-Rocha ''et al.'' 2007: 255 Names The order is also called Phalangiotarbida, the ending -ida originated when Petrunkevitch (1955) tried to standardize the endings of the arachnid orders, which is unnecessary and unwarranted according to the ICZN. Nevertheless, Phalangi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudoscorpions
Pseudoscorpions, also known as false scorpions or book scorpions, are small, scorpion-like arachnids belonging to the order Pseudoscorpiones, also known as Pseudoscorpionida or Chelonethida. Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans since they prey on clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, booklice, ants, mites, and small flies. They are tiny, and are rarely noticed due to their small size, despite being common in many environments. When people do see pseudoscorpions, especially indoors, they are often mistaken for ticks or small spiders. Pseudoscorpions often carry out phoresis, a form of commensalism in which one organism uses another for the purpose of transport. Characteristics Pseudoscorpions belong to the class Arachnida. They are small arachnids with a flat, pear-shaped body, and pincer-like pedipalps that resemble those of scorpions. They usually range from in length.Pennsylvania State University, DepartmentEntomological Notes: Pseudoscorpion Fact Sheet/r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitiformes
Parasitiformes are a superorder of Arachnids, constituting one of the two major groups of mites, alongside Acariformes. Parasitiformes has, at times, been classified at the rank of order or suborder. It is uncertain whether Parasitiformes and Acariformes are closely related, and in many analyses they are recovered more closely related to other arachnids. Amongst the best known members of the group are the ticks, though the Mesostigmata is by far the most diverse group with over 8,000 described species, including economically important species such as the varroa mite. Description Taxonomy * Holothyrida - small group of scavenging mites native to former Gondwana landmasses * Ixodida – ticks * Mesostigmata – a large order of predatory and parasitic mites * Opilioacarida – a small group of large, long-legged segmented mites. Many species are parasitic (most famous of which are ticks), but not all. For example, about half of the 10,000 known species in the suborder Mesostig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
