The Euctenizidae (formerly

Cyrtaucheniidae The wafer trapdoor spiders, family Cyrtaucheniidae, are a widespread family of spiders that lack the thorn-like spines on tarsi and metatarsi I and II (the two outermost leg segments) found in true trapdoor spiders ( Ctenizidae). Etymology T ...

subfamily Euctenizinae) are a family of mygalomorph

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.

Etymology

The name comes from the Greek 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. Common U.S. genera include '' Myrmekiaphila'', '' Aptostichus'' and '' Promyrmekiaphila''.

Genera

, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera: *'' Apomastus'' Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States *'' Aptostichus'' Simon, 1891 — United States, Mexico *'' Entychides'' Simon, 1888 — United States, Mexico *'' Eucteniza'' Ausserer, 1875 — Mexico, United States *'' Myrmekiaphila'' Atkinson, 1886 — United States *'' Neoapachella'' 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