Tetragnathidae

Female orchard spider Leucauge venusta, copyright Kaldari.

Belongs within: Araneoidea.
Contains: Meta, Tetragnatha.

The Tetragnathidae are a cosmopolitan family of long-legged orb-weaving spiders. Many, but not all, species have characteristically long, well-developed chelicerae. Male papi are relatively simple and lack a median apophysis (Paquin et al. 2010). The femora are often provided with dorsal trichobothria though these are absent in the genus Meta (Scharff & Coddington 1997).

Characters (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Small to very large; eight eyes present; legs with three tarsal claws; ecribellate; entelegyne or secondarily haplogyne; male genitalia comparatively simple, with large paracymbium and often several cymbial processes, conductor and embolus coiled apically; median apophysis absent.

<==Tetragnathidae [Meteae, Pachygnathidae]
    |--+--Meta BS09
    |  `--Metellina BS09
    |       |--M. mengei (Blackwall 1870) BBM02
    |       |--M. merianae (Scopoli 1763) GA11
    |       `--M. segmentata (Clerck 1757) BS09, BH02 [=Meta segmentata V09]
    `--+--Leucauge Darwin in White 1841 BS09, PVD10 [Leucauginae]
       |    |--L. argyra Walckenaer 1842 WA02
       |    |--L. celebesiana (Walck. 1837) (see below for synonymy) R13
       |    |--L. decorate (Blackwell 1864) HU08
       |    |--L. dromedaria (Thorell 1881) PVD10 (see below for synonymy)
       |    |--L. festiva JD-S07
       |    |--L. grata R13 (see below for synonymy)
       |    |--L. magnifica S94
       |    |--L. mariana Taczanowski 1881 WA02
       |    `--L. venusta Walckenaer 1842 WA02
       `--+--Tetragnatheae SC97
          |    |--Tetragnatha BS09
          |    `--Cyrtognatha SC97
          `--Pachygnatheae SC97
               |--Pachygnatha SC97
               |    |--*P. clercki Sundevall 1823 SC97
               |    |--P. autumnalis Keyserling 1884 SC97
               |    |--P. degeeri Sundevall 1829 VPB11
               |    |--P. furcillata SC97
               |    |--P. listeri V09
               |    `--P. superba Rainbow 1897 R97
               `--Glenognatha Simon 1887 SC97, HD90
                    |--G. centralis Chamberlin 1925 HD90
                    |--G. emertoni HD90
                    |--G. foxi (McCook 1894) WCH11
                    |--G. heleios Hormiga & Döbel 1990 HD90
                    |--G. iviei Levi 1980 HD90
                    |--G. minuta Banks 1898 HD90
                    `--G. mira Bryant 1945 HD90

Tetragnathidae incertae sedis:
  Eugnatha KK90
    |--E. cylindracea Koch & Keyserling 1887 KK90
    |--E. cylindrica KK90
    `--E. rubriventris (Doleschall 1857) [=Tetragnatha rubriventris; incl. T. lupata Koch 1872] KK90
  Eucta Sim. 1881 KK90
    |--E. anguilla (Thorell 1877) [=Tetragnatha anguilla] KK90
    `--E. caudifera Koch & Keyserling 1887 KK90
  Tylorida ventralis FF99
  Plesiometa argyra GE05
  Metleucauge B11
    |--M. kompirensis (Bösenberg & Strand 1906) B11
    `--M. yunohamensis (Bösenberg & Strand 1906) B11
  Dolichognatha [Diphyeae, Dolichognathinae] JD-S07
  Dyschiriognatha JD-S07
  Doryonychus F95
  Nanometinae [Nanometidae] PVD10
    |--Orsiella lagenifera FF99
    |--Nanometa Simon 1908 PVD10
    |    `--*N. gentilis (Simon 1908) PVD10
    |--Eryciniolia Strand 1912 PVD10
    |    `--*E. purpurapunctata (Urquhart 1889) PVD10 (see below for synonymy)
    `--Orsinome Thorell 1890 PVD10
         |--*O. vethi [=Pachygnatha vethi] S99
         |--O. arborea (Urquhart 1890) [=Tetragnatha arborea] S99
         |--O. australis Simon 1899 S99
         `--O. lagenifera (Urquhart 1888) PVD10 [=Linyphia lagenifera NS00]
  Chrysometa lancetilla L05
  Argyroepeira Em. 1884 SC97, T94
    |--A. argyra C01
    |--A. culta K92
    |--A. nigrotrivittata (Doleschall 1859) [=Epeira nigrotrivittata] T94
    `--A. ventralis K92
  Azilieae SC97
  Memoratrix rydei Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
  Eometa S93
    |--E. aberrans Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
    |--E. longipes Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
    |--E. robusta Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
    `--E. samlandica Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
  Priscometa tenuipes Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
  Macryphantes cowdeni Selden 1990 S93
  Homalometa P92

*Eryciniolia purpurapunctata (Urquhart 1889) PVD10 [=Linyphia purpurapunctata NS00; incl. L. nitidulum Urquhart 1890 NS00, Erycina violacea Urquhart 1891 NS00]

Leucauge celebesiana (Walck. 1837) [=Tetragnatha celebesiana, Argyroepeira celebesiana; incl. Meta decorata Blackw. 1864] R13

Leucauge dromedaria (Thorell 1881) PVD10 [=Argyroepeira dromadaria S99; incl. Nephila argentatum Urquhart 1887 NS00]

Leucauge grata R13 [=Epeira grata R13, Argyroepeira grata R13; incl. E. coccinea Doleschall 1857 R13, Meta coccinea KK90]

*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.

[B11] Blackledge, T. A. 2011. Prey capture in orb weaving spiders: are we using the best metric? Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 205–210.

[BS09] Blackledge, T. A., N. Scharff, J. A. Coddington, T. Szüts, J. W. Wenzel, C. Y. Hayashi & I. Agnarsson. 2009. Reconstructing web evolution and spider diversification in the molecular era. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (13): 5229–5234.

[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.

[C01] Cambridge, F. O. P. 1901. On a collection of spiders from the Bahama Islands, made by J. L. Bonhote, Esq.; with characters of a new genus and species of Mygalomorphae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 322–332.

[F95] Forster, R. R. 1995. The Australasian spider family Periegopidae Simon, 1893 (Araneae: Sicarioidea). Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 52: 91–105.

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

[GA11] Gregorič, M., I. Agnarsson, T. A. Blackledge & M. Kuntner. 2011. Darwin's bark spider: giant prey in giant orb webs (Caerostris darwini, Araneae: Araneidae)? Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 287–295.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[HU08] Hore, U., & V. P. Uniyal. 2008. Diversity and composition of spider assemblages in five vegetation types of the Terai Conservation Area, India. Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 251–258.

[HD90] Hormiga, G., & H. G. Döbel. 1990. A new Glenognatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) from New Jersey, with redescriptions of G. centralis and G. minuta. Journal of Arachnology 18: 195–204.

[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.

[KK90] Koch, L., & E. Keyserling. 1884–1890. Die Arachniden Australiens nach der Natur beschrieben und abgebildet vol. 2. Bauer & Raspe: Nürnberg.

[L05] Levi, H. W. 2005. The orb-weaver genus Mangora of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies (Araneae: Araneidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 158 (4): 139–182.

[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.

[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.

[R97] Rainbow, W. J. 1897. Descriptions of some new Araneidae of New South Wales, No. 7. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 21 (4): 628–633, pl. 49.

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

[SC97] Scharff, N., & J. A. Coddington. 1997. A phylogenetic analysis of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 120: 355–434.

[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.

[S94] Shimizu, A. 1994. Phylogeny and classification of the family Pompilidae (Hymenoptera). Tokyo Metropolitan University Bulletin of Natural History 2: 1–142.

[S99] Simon, E. 1899. Ergebnisse einer Reise nach dem Pacific (Schauinsland 1896–1897. Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie un Biologie der Thiere 12 (4): 411–437.

[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.

[VPB11] Varet, M., J. Pétillon & F. Burel. 2011. Comparative responses of spider and carabid beetle assemblages along an urban-rural boundary gradient. Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 236–243.

[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.

[WCH11] Welch, K. D., P. R. Crain & J. D. Harwood. 2011. Phenological dynamics of web-building spider populations in alfalfa: implications for biological control. Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 244–249.

[WA02] Whitehouse, M., I. Agnarsson, T. Miyashita, D. Smith, K. Cangialosi, T. Matsumoto, D. Li & Y. Henaut. 2002. Argyrodes: phylogeny, sociality and interspecific interactions—a report on the Argyrodes symposium, Badplaas 2001. Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 238–245.

Last updated: 9 January 2022.