Oxyopidae

Male striped lynx spider Oxyopes salticus, from Kaldari.

Belongs within: Amaurobioidea.

The Oxyopidae, lynx spiders, are actively hunting spiders found living on vegetation. They may capture flying prey in midair by jumping towards it, or they may spin small webs (Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007). Species of the genus Peucetia are bright green in coloration; others are mostly brown.

Characters (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Small to large; eight eyes present forming a hexagon occupying a small area on edge of carapace, tapetum grate-like, secondary eyes without tapetum; clypeus wide; legs with prominent setae, trochanters notched, three tarsal claws; ecribellate; entelegyne.

<==Oxyopidae
    |--Hostus Simon 1898 JD-S07
    |--Megullia Thorell 1897 JD-S07
    |--Pseudohostus Rainbow 1915 JD-S07
    |--Schaenicoscelis Simon 1898 JD-S07
    |--Tapinillus Simon 1898 JD-S07
    |--Tapponia Simon 1885 JD-S07
    |--Planoxyopes eximius Petrunkevitch 1963 P92
    |--Hamataliwa Keyserling 1887 JD-S07
    |    `--H. grisea TF98
    |--Peucetia Thorell 1869 [Peucetieae] JD-S07
    |    |--P. flava Keyserling 1877 M-FR08
    |    |--P. formosensis Kishida 1930 TYM08
    |    |--P. lampei Strand 1906 J98
    |    |--P. longipes JD-S07
    |    |--P. madagascariensis JD-S07
    |    |--P. rubrigastra M-L31
    |    |--P. rubrolineata Keyserling 1877 M-FR08
    |    `--P. viridans Hentz 1832 M-FR08
    `--Oxyopes Latreille 1804 [Oxyopeae] PVD10
         |--*O. heterophthalmus (Latreille 1804) [=Aranea heterophthalma] C01
         |--O. aglossus (Chamberlin 1929) TF98
         |--O. camponis Strand 1915 J98
         |--O. ceylonicus Karsch 1892 K92
         |--O. gracilipes (White 1849) PVD10
         |--O. gregarius FF99
         |--O. javanus Thorell 1887 T94
         |--O. lineata G20
         |--O. macilentus K. 1878 R13
         |--O. salticus (Hentz 1845) TF98
         |--O. scalaris MC02
         |--O. shweta JD-S07
         |--O. succini Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
         `--O. variegatus H04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[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.

[FF99] Forster, R., & L. Forster. 1999. Spiders of New Zealand and their World-wide Kin. University of Otago Press: Dunedin (New Zealand).

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[J98] Jäger, P. 1998. Das Typenmaterial der Spinnentiere (Arachnida: Acari, Amblypygi, Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones, Scorpiones, Uropygi) aus dem Museum Wiesbaden. Jahrbuecher des Nassauischen Vereins fuer Naturkunde 119: 81–91.

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

[K92] Karsch, F. 1892. Arachniden von Ceylon und von Minikoy gesammelt von den Herren Doctoren P. und F. Sarasin. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 36 (2): 267–310.

[M-L31] Mello-Leitão, C. F. de. 1931. Notas sobre arachnideos argentinos. Annaes da Academia Brasileira de Sciencias 3 (2): 83–97.

[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.

[M-FR08] Morais-Filho, J. C., & G. Q. Romero. 2008. Microhabitat use by Peucetia flava (Oxyopidae) on the glandular plant Rhyncanthera dichotoma (Melastomataceae). Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 374–378.

[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.

[R13] Rainbow, W. J. 1913. Arachnida from the Solomon Islands. Records of the Australian Museum 10 (1): 1–16.

[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.

[TYM08] Tennent, W. J., M. Yasuda & K. Morimoto. 2008. Lansania Journal of arachnology and zoology—a rare and obscure Japanese natural history journal. Archives of Natural History 35 (2): 252–280.

[T94] Thorell, T. 1894. Förteckning öfver Arachnider från Java och närgränsande öar, insamlade af docenten D:r Carl Aurivillius; jemte beskrifingar å några sydasiatiska och sydamerikanska Spindlar. Bihang till K. Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar 20 pt 4 (4): 1–63.

[TF98] Townsend, V. R., Jr & B. E. Felgenhauer. 1998. The cuticular scales of lynx spiders (Araneae, Oxyopidae). Journal of Morphology 236: 223–231.

Last updated: 22 January 2022.