Philodromidae

Tibellus sp., copyright Hectonichus.

Belongs within: Dionycha.
Contains: Thanatus, Philodromus.

The Philodromidae are a group of long-legged, somewhat flat-bodied spiders found hunting on the ground or among vegetation. Members of the genus Ebo have particularly long second legs, half as long again as the first pair. The genus Tibellus includes elongate-bodied species adapted for life among grasses and sedges.

Characters (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Small to medium-sized; eight eyes present in two rows, secondary eyes lacking a tapetum; chelicerae lacking teeth; legs laterigrade, slender, with two tarsal claws, distinct claw tufts and scopulae; ecribellate; entelegyne.

<==Philodromidae R14
    |  i. s.: Thanatus J98
    |         Eothanatus diritatis Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
    |         Syphax S93
    |           |--S. asper Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
    |           |--S. crassipes Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
    |           |--S. fuliginosus Koch & Berendt 1854 S93
    |           |--S. gracilis Koch & Berendt 1854 S93
    |           |--S. hirtus Menge 1854 S93
    |           `--S. megacephalus Koch & Berendt 1854 S93
    |--Ebo pepinensis R14
    |--Titanebo mexicanus R14
    `--+--+--Petrichus R14
       |  `--Philodromus R14
       `--Tibellus R14
            |--T. maritimus (Menge 1875) BBM02
            |--T. oblongus Walckenaer 1802 BH02
            `--T. parallelus K01

*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.

[BBM02] Bonte, D., L. Baert & J.-P. Maelfait. 2002. Spider assemblage structure and stability in a heterogeneous coastal dune system (Belgium). Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 331–343.

[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.

[K01] Kulczyński, V. 1901. Arachnoideák [Arachnoidea]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 311–369. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[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.

Last updated: 28 September 2019.