Hersiliidae is a tropical and subtropical

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 spiders first described by

Tamerlan Thorell Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell (3 May 1830 – 22 December 1901) was a Sweden, Swedish arachnologist. Thorell studied spiders with Giacomo Doria at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale de Genoa. He corresponded with other arachnologists, such as Oc ...

in 1869, which are commonly known as tree trunk spiders. They have two prominent

spinnerets A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are ...

that are almost as long as their

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

, earning them another nickname, the "two-tailed spiders". They range in size from long. Rather than using a web that captures prey directly, they lay a light coating of threads over an area of tree bark and wait for an insect to stray onto the patch. When this happens, they encircle their spinnerets around their prey while casting silk on it. When the insect is immobilized, they can bite it through the shroud.

Diversity

Hersiliidae is an entelegyne family (characterized primarily by the nature of the female genital system), and together with the family

Oecobiidae Oecobiidae, also called disc web spiders, is a family of araneomorph spiders, including about 100 described species. They are small to moderate sized spiders (about long combined head and body length, depending on the species. Larger ones tend to ...

traditionally formed the superfamily

Oecobioidea The Eresoidea or eresoids are a group of araneomorph spiders that have been treated as a superfamily. As usually circumscribed, the group contains three families: Eresidae, Hersiliidae and Oecobiidae. Studies and reviews based on morphology sugge ...

. The family consists of about 206 species divided into sixteen genera. It has a global distribution in tropical and subtropical regions, with only a few species being found north of the 40°N parallel. All members are

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 ...

(lack the

cribella ''Cribella'' is a genus of bryozoans in the family Bitectiporidae. See also * List of prehistoric bryozoan genera This list of prehistoric bryozoans is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included ...

or perforated plates which produce multiple, exceptionally fine strands of silk) and are recognizable by the pair of exceptionally long spinnerets set at the tip of the abdomen. They have eight eyes, set in two curved rows. They are small to medium-sized spiders and are active day and night. They are very well

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

d when stationary on the trunk of a tree and aligned with the bark markings.

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: *''

Bastanius ''Bastanius'' is a genus of spiders in the family Hersiliidae Hersiliidae is a tropical and subtropical family of spiders first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1869, which are commonly known as tree trunk spiders. They have two prominent spi ...

'' Mirshamsi, Zamani & Marusik, 2016 — Iran *''

Deltshevia ''Deltshevia'' is a genus of Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eu ...

'' Marusik & Fet, 2009 — Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan *'' Duninia'' Marusik & Fet, 2009 — Turkmenistan, Iran *''

Hersilia In Roman mythology, Hersilia was a figure in the foundation myth of Rome. She is credited with ending the war between Rome and the Sabines. Battle of the Lacus Curtius In some accounts she is the wife of Romulus, the founder and first King of ...

'' Audouin, 1826 — Africa, Asia, Oceania *'' Hersiliola'' Thorell, 1870 — Asia, Africa, Spain *''

Iviraiva ''Iviraiva'' is a genus of South American tree trunk spiders that was first described by C. A. Rheims & Antônio Brescovit Antônio Domingos Brescovit (born 1959) is a Brazilian arachnologist. His first name, Antônio (the spelling used in Bra ...

'' Rheims & Brescovit, 2004 — South America *'' Murricia'' Simon, 1882 — Asia, Africa *''

Neotama ''Neotama'' is a genus 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 ...

'' Baehr & Baehr, 1993 — South Africa, South America, North America, El Salvador, Asia *''

Ovtsharenkoia ''Ovtsharenkoia'' is a monotypic genus of Asian tree trunk spiders containing the single species, ''Ovtsharenkoia pallida''. It was first described by Yuri M. Marusik & Victor R. Fet in 2009, and has only been found in Central Asia Central ...

'' Marusik & Fet, 2009 — Central Asia *'' Prima'' Foord, 2008 — Madagascar *''

Promurricia ''Promurricia'' is a monotypic genus of Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass ...

'' Baehr & Baehr, 1993 — Sri Lanka *'' Tama'' Simon, 1882 — Spain, Portugal, Algeria *''

Tamopsis ''Tamopsis'' is a genus of tree trunk spiders that was first described by B. Baehr & M. Baehr in 1987. Like other members of the family, they may be called two-tailed spiders, referring to two elongated spinnerets. The name is derived from the g ...

'' Baehr & Baehr, 1987 — Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea *'' Tyrotama'' Foord & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2005 — Africa *'' Yabisi'' Rheims & Brescovit, 2004 — Dominican Republic, United States, Cuba *''

Ypypuera ''Ypypuera'' is a genus of South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the con ...

'' Rheims & Brescovit, 2004 — South America

Extinct genera

* †'' Burmesiola'' Wunderlich 2011

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

, Myanmar,

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

* †'' Fictotama'' Petrunkevitch 1963

Dominican amber Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree '' Hymenaea protera''. Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil inc ...

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

* †'' Gerdia'' Menge 1869

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

* †'' Gerdiopsis'' Wunderlich 2004 Baltic amber, Eocene * †'' Gerdiorum'' Wunderlich 2004 Baltic amber, Eocene

Gallery

File:Hersilia-2016-06-19-002.jpg, A ''Hersilia'' species immobilizing a

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

File:Hersilia-2016-06-19-003.jpg, Injecting venom through the shroud File:Hersilia-2016-06-19-005.jpg, Fully immobilized the

References

External links

Order Araneae - Spiders
at

BugGuide BugGuide (or BugGuide.net) is a website and online community of naturalists, both amateur and professional, who share observations of arthropods such as insects, spiders, and other related creatures. The website consists of informational guide p ...

(including images)
''Hersilia'' sp. Hersiliidae
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