Xysticus
| Real crab spiders | ||||||||||
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Xysticus audax , female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Xysticus | ||||||||||
| CL Koch , 1835 |
The real crab spider ( Xysticus ), also called bush crab spider , is a genus of web spiders from the family of crab spiders (Thomisidae). The species-rich genus is distributed almost worldwide and is also represented in Central Europe with around 26 species .
features
The species of the genus of real crab spiders are mostly small to medium-sized. The females of the Central European species reach a maximum body length of 10 mm, the males are about half as big with a body length of about 3–5 mm. The Central European species are all inconspicuous in color, the basic color is mostly brown or gray. The anterior body ( prosoma ), which is usually only slightly smaller in comparison to the posterior body ( opisthosoma ), shows in many species a broad, light longitudinal band in the middle, which shows a darkly contrasting spot that is broad at the front and tapering to the rear, i.e. approximately V-shaped. The opisthosoma is clearly flattened and in most species shows a dark leaf markings that are broadly interrupted in the middle and are often strongly indented on the inside.
The species of Central Europe are often very similar to one another; a reliable determination is therefore in most cases only possible by microscopic examination of the genital organs (genital morphological).
Distribution and types
The real crab spiders are found almost worldwide, they are only absent in South America . Of the currently around 360 species of the genus described, around 71 occur in Europe and around 26 of them in Central Europe. However, even in Europe, through detailed investigations, new species are still being discovered that have previously been assigned to other species, including Xysticus pseudocristatus Azarkina & Logunov , 2001 and Xysticus brevidentatus Wunderlich , 1995 , of which the female was only described in 2003.
Central European species are for example:
- Undemanding crab spider ( Xysticus kochi )
- Tree crab spider or Reddish bush crab spider ( Xysticus lanio )
- Brown crab spider or comb bush crab spider ( Xysticus cristatus )
- Low grass crab spider or two-striped bush crab spider ( Xysticus bifasciatus )
- Marsh crab spider ( Xysticus ulmi )
- Twin crab spider or dark bush crab spider ( Xysticus audax )
Way of life
Like all crab spiders, the genus of real crab spiders does not build any nets. The animals stay as ambulance hunters mostly in the vegetation on leaves; the prey is seized with the enlarged first two pairs of legs and killed by a bite.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Norman I. Platnick: Familie Thomisidae The World Spider Catalog, Version 11.0, American Museum of Natural History, 2010 (accessed August 31, 2010)
- ^ Elke Jantscher: Xysticus brevidentatus (Thomisidae): Further Records and First Description of the Female. Journal of Arachnology, 31, pp. 363-370, 2003
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : Cosmos Atlas Arachnids of Europe . 3rd edition, 2006. Kosmos, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-440-10746-1 .
- Ralph Platen, Bodo von Broen, Andreas Herrmann, Ulrich M. Ratschker, Peter Sacher: Total species list and red list of spiders, harvestmen and pseudoscorpions of the state of Brandenburg (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones) with information on frequency and ecology. Nature conservation and landscape management in Brandenburg 8, booklet 2 (supplement); 1999.
Web links
Xysticus in the World Spider Catalog
- W. Nentwig , A. Hänggi, C. Kropf & T. Blick (Eds.): Spinnen Mitteleuropas - Identification key, genus Xysticus. on-line