Trapdoor spider

Trapdoor spider is a

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

that is used to refer to various

spiders 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 di ...

from several different groups that create burrows with a silk-hinged trapdoor to help them ambush prey. Several families within the

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Mygalomorphae contain trapdoor spiders: *

Actinopodidae Actinopodidae ( Mouse spiders) is a family of mygalomorph orb weaver spiders found in mainland Australia and South America usually in open forest. Species are most common in Queensland, Australia. It includes mouse spiders, whose bites, though ...

, a family otherwise known as 'mouse-spiders', in South America and Australia * Antrodiaetidae, a family of 'folding trapdoor spiders' from the USA and Japan *

Barychelidae Barychelidae, also known as brushed trapdoor spiders, is a spider family with about 300 species in 42 genera. Most spiders in this family build trapdoor burrows. For example, the long '' Sipalolasma'' builds its burrow in rotted wood, with a hing ...

, a family of 'brush-footed trapdoor spiders' with

pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and '' Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' is a zoogeographic te ...

distribution *

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 ...

, a family of '

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

-lid trapdoor spiders' in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...

regions *

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 ...

, a family of 'wafer-lid trapdoor spiders, with wide distribution except cooler regions *

Euctenizidae The Euctenizidae (formerly Cyrtaucheniidae subfamily Euctenizinae) are a family of mygalomorph spiders. They are now considered to be more closely related to Idiopidae. Etymology The name comes from the Greek prefix (''eu-''), meaning "valua ...

, a family of spiders that make wafer-like or cork-like trapdoors *

Halonoproctidae Halonoproctidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders, split off from the family Ctenizidae in 2018. Species in the family are widely distributed in North and Central America, Australasia, Asia, southern Europe and North Africa. One species is reco ...

, a family of spiders that make wafer-like or cork-like trapdoors and includes the phragmotic genus ''

Cyclocosmia ''Cyclocosmia'' is a genus of mygalomorph trapdoor spiders in the family Halonoproctidae, first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871. Originally placed with the Ctenizidae, when the family split in 2018, this genus was placed with the Halonoproct ...

'' *

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, whic ...

, a family of 'spurred-trapdoor spiders' or 'armoured trapdoors' mostly in Southern Hemisphere *

Migidae Migidae, also known as tree trapdoor spiders, is a family of spiders with about 100 species in eleven genera. They are small to large spiders with little to no hair and build burrows with a trapdoor. Some species live in tree fern stems. They hav ...

, also known as 'ridge fanged trapdoor spiders' or 'tree trapdoor spiders', in the Southern Hemisphere *

Nemesiidae Nemesiidae, also known as funnel-web trapdoor spiders, is a family of mygalomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1889, and raised to family status in 1985. Before becoming its own family, it was considered part of "Dipluridae". Desc ...

, a family of 'tube trapdoor spiders', with both tropical and

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

species worldwide *

Theraphosidae Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although m ...

, a family of tarantulas (where just a few species make trapdoors), also with wide distribution There is also one family of trapdoor spiders in the suborder

Mesothelae The Mesothelae are a suborder of spiders (order Araneae) that includes a single extant family, Liphistiidae, and a number of extinct families. This suborder is thought to form the sister group to all other living spiders, and to retain ancestral ...

: *

Liphistiidae The spider family Liphistiidae, recognized by Tamerlan Thorell in 1869, comprises 8 genera and about 100 species of medium-sized spiders from Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. They are among the most basal living spiders, belonging to the subord ...

, an unusual and unique family of spiders with armoured abdomens from Southeast Asia, China and Japan {{Set index article, animals Set index articles on spiders Set index articles on animal common names