Funnel spiders

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Funnel spiders
Eratigena atrica

Eratigena atrica

Systematics
Class : Arachnids (arachnida)
Order : Spiders (Araneae)
Subordination : Real spiders (Araneomorphae)
Partial order : Entelegynae
Superfamily : Ageloidea
Family : Funnel spiders
Scientific name of the  superfamily
Ageloidea
???
Scientific name of the  family
Agelenidae
CL Koch , 1837
Close up of a funnel spider
Funnel spider from the front
A funnel spider prey on a gold fly from the blowfly family

The funnel spiders (Agelenidae) are a family of real spiders (Araneomorphae). They currently comprise 73 genera and 1193 species . (As of June 2016)

Web construction and behavior of funnel spiders

The family was named for the shape of their network. Funnel spiders weave a dwelling cave that narrows in a funnel shape from the entrance to the center and has two exits. The animals spend most of their time inside this den, which they usually only leave when it has been driven away or the den has been destroyed or when they move to a new place of their own accord, e.g. B. due to persistent lack of food. There is an exception for the males, who leave their burrows more frequently during the mating season and go on longer forays to find a female. The funnel spider's way of hunting is relatively uniform. They remain motionless in their den or in the entrance, their front pairs of legs groping on the net. If prey approaches or gets tangled in the fishing threads stretched from the dwelling cave or the ceiling net, the funnel spiders quickly run out of the net and seize the prey, with which they, if successful and as far as possible, immediately retreat to their hiding place to consume there.

The labyrinth spider ( Agelena labyrinthica ) prefers to weave ceiling nets in grass or low bushes. Often funnel spiders weave their webs in hiding places that are difficult to access, such as niches and wall corners. Practically all species are very sensitive and have a comparatively good sense of direction, which made them an object of study in physiology .

Special features

In addition to their typical webs, funnel spiders can also be easily recognized by their long, strong, hairy legs and their distinct spinnerets . The two outer of the six spinnerets protrude from under the abdomen (opisthosoma). The eight eyes are arranged in two transverse rows one above the other.

Systematics

So far, around 24 species of funnel spiders in at least 12 genera have been identified in Europe . The most species-rich genera are Agelena and Tegenaria . With regard to the taxonomy of funnel spiders, there are, as in all of arachnology , contradicting and constantly changing views and information.

Genera of the funnel spider family with species in Europe:

  • Agelena Walckenaer , 1805 (Asia, Africa, Europe)
  • Agelenella Lehtinen , 1967 (Central Europe , Mediterranean to Central Asia)
  • Agelescape Levy , 1996 (Mediterranean)
  • Aterigena Bolzern, Hänggi & Burckhardt , 2010 Bolzern, Hänggi & Burckhardt, 2010 (separated from the Tegenaria - Malthonica group)
  • Eratigena Bolzern, Burckhardt & Hänggi , 2013 (outsourcedfrom the Tegenaria - Malthonica group)
  • Hadites Keyserling , 1862 (Balkans)
  • Histopona Thorell , 1869 (Central Europe )
  • Maimuna Lehtinen , 1967 (Southeast Europe - Western Asia)
  • Malthonica Simon , 1898 (Europe and Balearic Islands)
  • Pseudotegenaria Caporiacco , 1934 (Balkans, the species were reintegrated into the genus Tegenaria in 2010)
  • Tegenaria Latreille , 1804 (Europe, Central Asia, America)
  • Textrix Sundevall , 1833 (Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa)

Furthermore, 60 other genera are currently known worldwide and in all regions, with the exception of the Arctic regions. The World Spider Catalog currently lists a total of 73 genera and 1193 species for funnel spiders. (As of June 2016)

Possible confusion

In Australia there are also species that are sometimes referred to by the common name Funnel-web spider ("funnel (net) spider"). Some of them are among the most venomous spiders in the world, but they do not come from the Agelenidae family. They are species of the genera Atrax and Hadronyche from the family Hexathelidae , which are more closely related to tarantulas and trapdoor spiders (see: Mygalomorphae ).

Web links

Commons : funnel spiders (Agelenidae)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Agelenidae in the World Spider Catalog

literature

  • W. Nentwig, A. Hänggi, C. Kropf, T. Blick: Spinnen Mitteleuropas / Central European Spiders. An internet identification key . Version from December 8, 2003 (previously published by Parey-Verlag).
  • Rainer F. Foelix: Biology of the spiders . Thieme, 1979 (1991), ISBN 3-13-575801-X .
  • Dick Jones: The Cosmos Spider Guide . Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-440-06141-8 .
  • Frieder Sauer , Jörg Wunderlich: The most beautiful spiders in Europe . Fauna-Verlag, Karlsfeld 1985.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern: World Spider Catalog Version 17.0 - Agelenidae . Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ Angelo Bolzern, Ambros Hänggi, Daniel Burckhardt: Aterigena, a new genus of funnel-web spider, shedding some light on the Tegenaria-Malthonica problem (Araneae: Agelenidae). In: Journal of Arachnology , Volume 38, 2010, pp. 162-182.
  3. ↑ 2013 Phylogeny and taxonomy of European funnel-web spiders of the Tegenaria-Malthonica complex , accessed on September 7, 2014