Anyphaenidae

Buzzing spider Anyphaena accentuata, copyright Robert Flogaus-Faust.

Belongs within: Dionycha.

The Anyphaenidae are a cosmopolitan family of actively hunting spiders that build tubular silk retreats. They have a complex tracheal system with the median tracheae branched into the cephalothorax (Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007); such a system has previously been regarded as characteristic of the family but may have arisen on more than one occasion (Ramírez 2014). Members of the Anyphaeninae have the spiracle openings placed far forward on the abdomen, relatively close to the epigastrium, whereas Amaurobioidinae retain a plesiomorphic position shortly before the spinnerets.

Characters (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Small to large; eight eyes present in two rows; legs with two tarsal claws, tarsal claw tufts composed of several rows of lamelliform setae; tracheal spiracle situated about one-third of abdomen length from spinnerets; ecribellate; spinnerets lacking cylindrical gland spigots; entelegyne.

<==Anyphaenidae JD-S07
    |  i. s.: Hibana similaris (Banks 1929) JD-S07, S02
    |         Osoriella rubella BR07
    |         Aysha FM11
    |         Arachosia R14
    |         Teudis P92
    |         Wulfila ventralis Banks 1906 P92, B06
    |--+--Gayenna americana R14
    |  `--Amaurobioides Pickard-Cambridge 1883 R14, PVD10 [Amaurobioididae, Amaurobioidinae]
    |       |--*A. maritima Pickard-Cambridge 1883 PVD10
    |       |--A. africana R14
    |       |--A. chilensis R14
    |       |--A. major Forster 1970 PVD10
    |       |--A. pallida Forster 1970 PVD10
    |       |--A. picuna Forster 1970 PVD10
    |       |--A. piscator Hogg 1909 PVD10
    |       |--A. pleta Forster 1970 PVD10
    |       `--A. pohara Forster 1970 PVD10
    `--+--Xiruana R14
       |    |--X. gracilipes R14
       |    `--X. hirsuta R14
       `--Anyphaena Sundevall 1833 R14, CH12 [Anyphaeninae JD-S07]
            |--*A. accentuata (Walckenaer 1802) CH12 (see below for synonymy)
            |--A. celer R14
            |--A. fuscata Koch & Berendt 1854 S93
            |--A. pacifica MC02
            |--A. pugil CH12
            |--A. sabina Koch 1866 K55
            |--A. taiwanensis Chen & Huang 2010 CH12
            |--A. velox B06
            `--A. wuyi Zhang, Zhu & Song 2005 CH12

*Anyphaena accentuata (Walckenaer 1802) CH12 [=Aranea accentuata C01, Clubiona accetuata C01, Micromata accentuata C01]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B06] Banks, N. 1906. Arachnida from the Bahamas. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 22: 185–189.

[BR07] Buzatto, B. A., G. S. Requena, E. G. Martins & G. Machado. 2007. Effects of maternal care on the lifetime reproductive success of females in a Neotropical harvestman. Journal of Animal Ecology 76 (5): 937–945.

[C01] Cambridge, F. O. P. 1901. A revision of the genera of the Araneae or spiders with reference to their type species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 51–65.

[CH12] Chen, S.-H., & W.-J. Huang. 2012. The Spider Fauna of Taiwan—Araneae: Miturgidae, Anyphaenidae, Clubionidae. National Taiwan Normal University.

[FM11] Freire-Jr, G. de B., & P. C. Motta. 2011. Effects of experimental fire regimes on the abundance and diversity of cursorial arachnids of Brazilian savannah (cerrado biome). Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 263–272.

[JD-S07] Jocqué, R., & A. S. Dippenaar-Schoeman. 2007. Spider Families of the World. Royal Museum for Central Africa: Tervuren (Belgium).

[K55] Kraus, O. 1955. Spinnen von Korsika, Sardinien und Elba (Arach., Araneae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 36: 371–394.

[MC02] Miliczky, E. R., & C. O. Calkins. 2002. Spiders (Araneae) as potential predators of leafroller larvae and egg masses (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in central Washington apple and pear orchards. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 78 (2): 140–150.

[PVD10] Paquin, P., C. J. Vink & N. Dupérré. 2010. Spiders of New Zealand: annotated family key and species list. Manaaki Whenua Press: Lincoln (New Zealand).

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R14] Ramírez, M. J. 2014. The morphology and phylogeny of dionychan spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 390: 1–374.

[S93] Selden, P. A. 1993. Arthropoda (Aglaspidida, Pycnogonida and Chelicerata). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 297–320. Chapman & Hall: London.

[S02] Selden, P. A. 2002. Missing links between Argyroneta and Cybaeidae revealed by fossil spiders. Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 189–200.

Last updated: 22 January 2022.