The Euctenizidae (formerly Cyrtaucheniidae subfamily Euctenizinae) are a family of

mygalomorph The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to the ...

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 ...

s. They are now considered to be more closely related to

Idiopidae Idiopidae, also known as armored trapdoor spiders, is a family of mygalomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1889. They have a large body similar to tarantulas. Description In some species the males have a spur on their legs, which ...

Etymology

The name comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

prefix (''eu-''), meaning "valuable" or "good", which had been thought that the family

Ctenizidae Ctenizidae is a small family of mygalomorph spiders that construct burrows with a cork-like trapdoor made of soil, vegetation, and silk. They may be called trapdoor spiders, as are other, similar species, such as those of the families Liphistii ...

possess these traits.Bond, J. E., B. E. Hendrixson, C. A. Hamilton & M. Hedin. (Bond et al., 2012b) - ''A reconsideration of the classification of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Arachnida: Araneae) based on three nuclear genes and morphology''

Biology

Many, but not all, make wafer-like doors to their burrows, while others build the cork-like doors found commonly in the true trapdoor spiders. The biology of nearly all of the species is poorly known.

Distribution

The family occurs almost exclusively in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Common U.S.

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

include ''

Myrmekiaphila ''Myrmekiaphila'' is a genus of North American mygalomorph trapdoor spiders in the family Euctenizidae, and was first described by G. F. Atkinson in 1886. All described species are endemic to the southeastern United States. Originally placed wit ...

'', ''

Aptostichus ''Aptostichus'' is a genus of North American mygalomorph spiders in the family Euctenizidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1891. They are found predominantly in southern California, United States. Behavior Members of the North Ame ...

'' and '' Promyrmekiaphila''.

Genera

, the

World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ...

accepts the following genera: *'' Apomastus'' Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States *''

'' Simon, 1891 — United States, Mexico *''

Entychides ''Entychides'' is a genus of mygalomorph trapdoor spiders in the family Euctenizidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1888. Originally placed with the Ctenizidae Ctenizidae is a small family of mygalomorph spiders that construct ...

'' Simon, 1888 — United States, Mexico *'' Eucteniza'' Ausserer, 1875 — Mexico, United States *''

'' Atkinson, 1886 — United States *''

Neoapachella ''Neoapachella'' is a monotypic taxon, monotypic genus of North American Mygalomorphae, mygalomorph trapdoor spiders in the family Euctenizidae containing the single species, ''Neoapachella rothi''. It was first described by Jason Bond & B. D. Op ...

'' Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States *'' Promyrmekiaphila'' Schenkel, 1950 — United States

Footnotes

References

* {Raven, Robert J. (1985): The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 182: 1–180. * Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. ''Malaysian Nature Society'', Kuala Lumpur. * Bond, J. E. Phylogenetic treatment and taxonomic revision of the trapdoor spider genus ''Aptostichus'' Simon (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Euctenizidae). ZooKeys 252: 1–209. * Bond, J. E., C. A. Hamilton, N. L. Garrison & C. H. Ray. Phylogenetic reconsideration of ''Myrmekiaphila'' systematics with a description of the trapdoor spider species Myrmekiaphila tigris (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Cyrtaucheniidae, Euctenizinae) from Auburn, Alabama. ZooKeys 190: 94–109. * Bond, J. E., B. E. Hendrixson, C. A. Hamilton & M. Hedin. A reconsideration of the classification of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Arachnida: Araneae) based on three nuclear genes and morphology. PLoS One 7(6): e38753. * Platnick, Norman I. (2014)
The world spider catalog
version 14.5. ''American Museum of Natural History''.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10532 Mygalomorphae families