Psechridae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of araneomorph

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 with about 70 species in two genera. These are among the biggest

cribellate Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates. In certain groups of diatoms it refers to microscopically punctured regions of the frustule, or o ...

spiders with body lengths up to and funnel webs more than in diameter. The family belongs to the

RTA clade The RTA clade is a clade of araneomorph spiders, united by the possession of a retrolateral tibial apophysis – a backward-facing projection on the tibia of the male pedipalp. The clade contains over 21,000 species, almost half the current total ...

of spiders because they all have a Retrolateral Tibial Apophysis on the male

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") and ...

. A recent phylogenetic analysis places Psechridae as close relatives of the

lynx spider Lynx spider (Oxyopidae) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1870. Most species make little use of webs, instead spending their lives as hunting spiders on plants. Many species frequent flowers in particular, ...

wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or ...

s, and

nursery web spider Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890. They resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for several key differences. Wolf spiders have two very prominent eyes in addition to the o ...

s. They feature several characteristics normally found in ecribellate spiders, for example brood care behavior, and a

colulus Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates. In certain groups of diatoms it refers to microscopically punctured regions of the frustule, or o ...

with no apparent function. They have greatly elongated legs, with the last element being very flexible. Female ''

Psechrus ''Psechrus'' is a genus of cribellate araneomorph spiders in the family Psechridae, and was first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1878. Species it contains fifty-seven species, found only in Asia and Queensland: *'' P. aluco'' Bayer, 2012 – I ...

'' carry their egg-sac in the

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or similarly ...

, similar to their relatives, the ecribellate

Pisauridae Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) is a family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890. They resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for several key differences. Wolf spiders have two very prominent eyes in ad ...

. Members of ''Psechrus'' construct horizontal webs lace webs, while ''Fecenia'' construct pseudo-orbs, similar to orb webs of

Orbiculariae Orbiculariae is a potential clade of araneomorph spiders, uniting two groups that make orb webs. Phylogenetic analyses based on morphological characters have generally recovered this clade; analyses based on DNA have regularly concluded that the ...

spiders in an example of

evolutionary convergence Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

Distribution

They occur in southeastern Asia, ranging from India in the west, to Solomon Islands in the east, reaching as far south as northern Australia, and north to central

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. They are found in forest, rocky areas, and caves from lowlands to altitudes exceeding .

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: *''

Fecenia ''Fecenia'' is a genus of cribellate araneomorph spiders in the family Psechridae, and was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1887. Species it contains four species, found only in Asia and Queensland: *''Fecenia cylindrata'' Thorell, 18 ...

'' Simon, 1887 — Asia, Australia *''

'' Thorell, 1878 — Asia, Australia * †'' Eomatachia'' Petrunkevitch, 1942 (fossil,

oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

)

Distribution

Genera

See also

References

Further reading