Oonopidae

Orchestina sp., copyright Matias A. Izquierdo.

Belongs within: Basalhaplogynae.

The Oonopidae, goblin spiders, are a family of very small ground-hunting spiders, most diverse in tropical regions. Their six eyes (if present) are grouped close together with the anterior eyes large. In members of the subfamily Gamasomorphinae, the abdomen is covered by hardened dorsal and ventral scuta (Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007).

Characters (from Jocqué & Dipppenaar-Schoeman 2007): Very small; six eyes present, grouped close together, or eyes absent; legs with two claws, biserially dentate on an onychium; abdomen often with dorsal and ventral scuta; posterior tracheae anteriorly positioned; ecribellate; haplogyne, female genitalia a sclerotised slit composed of two distinct elements associated with both anterior and posterior walls of bursa.

<==Oonopidae
    |--Gamasomorpha [Gamasomorphinae] JD-S07
    |    `--G. camellina JD-S07
    |--Oonops Templeton 1935 [Oonopinae] JD-S07
    |    |--O. domesticus de Dalmas 1916 BH02
    |    `--O. pulcher Templeton 1935 MG03
    `--Orchestininae W19
         |--Burmochestina Wunderlich 2008 W19
         `--Orchestina Simon 1882 FB08
              |--O. baltica Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
              |--O. dubia V09
              `--O. mortua Petrunkevitch 1971 P92

Oonopidae incertae sedis:
  Dysderina C90
  Opopaea Simon 1891 FB08
  Brignolia L-M-HM11
  Coxapopha L-M-HM11
  Neoxyphinus L-M-HM11
  Xyccarph L-M-HM11
  Pelicinus saaristoi Ott & Harvey 2008 T13
  Grymeus MC13
  Myrmopopaea MC13
  Kapitia Forster 1956 PVD10
    `--*K. obscura Forster 1956 PVD10
  Silhouettella Benoit 1979 MG03
    `--S. loricatula (Roewer 1942) [=Dysderina loricatula, Gamasomorpha loricatula] MG03
  Ischnothyreus Simon 1893 [=Ischnaspis Simon 1891 non Douglas 1887] EH09
    |--*I. peltifer (Simon 1891) [=*Ischnaspis peltifer] EH09
    `--I. darwini Edward & Harvey 2009 EH09
  ‘Pounamua’ Forster 1956 non Oliver 1949 F64
    |--P. australis Forster 1964 F64
    |--P. complexa Forster 1956 NS00
    `--P. gressitti Forster 1964 F64
  Cavisternum clavatum Baehr, Harvey & Smith 2010 DH10
  Xestaspis Simon 1884 OH08
    |--*X. loricata (Koch 1873) [=Oonops loricatus] OH08
    |--X. inconspicua MC13
    |--X. linnaei Ott & Harvey 2008 OH08
    |--X. nitida Simon 1884 OH08
    |--X. parumpunctata Simon 1893 OH08
    |--X. recurva Strand 1906 OH08
    |--X. reimoseri Fage 1938 OH08
    |--X. sertata Simon 1907 OH08
    |--X. sis Saaristo & van Harten 2006 OH08
    |--X. sublaevis Simon 1893 OH08
    |--X. tumidula Simon 1893 OH08
    `--X. yemeni Saaristo & van Harten 2006 OH08
  Fossilopaea P92
  Heteroonops P92

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BH02] Bell, J. R., A. J. Haughton, N. D. Boatman & A. Wilcox. 2002. Do incremental increases of the herbicide glyphosate have indirect consequences for spider communities? Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 288–297.

[C90] Coddington, J. A. 1990. Book review: Advances in spider taxonomy 1981–1987: A supplement to Brignoli’s A catalogue of the Araneae described between 1940 and 1981 (edited by P. Merrett), by Norman I. Platnick. Journal of Arachnology 18: 245–248.

[DH10] Durrant, B. J., M. S. Harvey, V. W. Framenau, R. Ott & J. M. Waldock. 2010. Patterns in the composition of ground-dwelling spider communities in the Pilbara bioregion, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 78 (1): 185–204.

[EH09] Edward, K. L., & M. S. Harvey. 2009. A new species of Ischnothyreus (Araneae:Oonopidae) from monsoon rainforest of northern Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (3): 287–293.

[FB08] Fannes, W., D. De Bakker, K. Loosveldt & R. Jocqué. 2008. Estimating the diversity of arboreal oonopid spider assemblages (Araneae, Oonopidae) at Afrotropical sites. Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 322–330.

[F64] Forster, R. R. 1964. The Araneae and Opiliones of the subantarctic islands of New Zealand. Pacific Insects Monograph 7: 58–115.

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

[L-M-HM11] Lo-Man-Hung, N. F., R. Marichal, D. F. Candiani, L. S. Carvalho, R. P. Indicatti, A. B. Bonaldo, D. H. R. Cobo, A. Feijoo M., S. Tselouiko, C. Praxedes, G. Brown, E. Velasquez, T. Decaëns, J. Oszwald, M. Martins & P. Lavelle. 2011. Impact of different land management on soil spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in two Amazonian areas of Brazil and Colombia. Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 296–302.

[MC13] Majer, J. D., S. K. Callan, K. Edwards, N. R. Gunawardene & C. K. Taylor. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 13–112.

[MG03] Marusik, Yu. M., & E. F. Guseinov. 2003. Spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) of Azerbaijan. 1. New family and genus records. Arthropoda Selecta 12 (1): 29–46.

[NS00] Nicholls, D. C., P. J. Sirvid, S. D. Pollard & M. Walker. 2000. A list of arachnid primary types held in Canterbury Museum. Records of the Canterbury Museum 14: 37–48.

[OH08] Ott, R., & M. S. Harvey. 2008. A new species of Xestaspis (Araneae: Oonopidae) from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 24 (4): 337–342.

[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.

[T13] Taylor, C. K. 2013. Annotated bibliography for Barrow Island terrestrial invertebrates. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 135–144.

[V09] Verdcourt, B. (ed.) 2009. Additions to the wild fauna and flora of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. XXVI. Miscellaneous records. Kew Bulletin 64 (1): 183–194.

[W19] Wunderlich, J. 2019. What is a spider? Cretaceous fossils modify strongly phylogenetics as well as diagnoses of families, superfamilies and even suborders of spiders (Araneida) and other arthropods. Beiträge zur Araneologie 12: 1–32.

Last updated: 25 January 2022.