Huttoniidae is a family of

ecribellate 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 ...

araneomorph spiders containing a single

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, ''Huttonia'', itself containing a single described species, ''Huttonia palpimanoides''. It is known only from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Very few specimens of the genus were known until it was discovered that they primarily inhabited dead fronds of rainforest

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

Taxonomy

It was first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1880. Originally placed with the

ant spider Ant spiders are members of the family Zodariidae. They are small to medium-sized eight-eyed spiders found in all tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia-New Guinea, New Zealand, Arabia and the Indian sub ...

s, it was moved to a family of its own, Huttoniidae, in 1984, in the superfamily

Palpimanoidea The Palpimanoidea or palpimanoids, also known as assassin spiders, are a group of araneomorph spiders, originally treated as a superfamily. As with many such groups, its circumscription has varied. , the following five families were included: * ...

. Fossils of this family have been found in

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

( Campanian)

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. This extended the known geological age of the Huttoniidae back about 80 million years, supporting the theory of ''H. palpimanoides'' being an ousted relict species. They are probably most closely related to the now extinct family, Spatiatoridae. Although only one species is described, about twenty more undescribed species are thought to exist.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q14631807, from2=Q12156293 Huttoniidae Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Spiders of New Zealand Taxa named by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge