Miturgidae

Miturga sp., possibly M. gilva, copyright Arthur Chapman.

Belongs within: Dionycha.

The Miturgidae are a group of ecribellate spiders with two-segmented posterior spinnerets (at least laterally). Membership of the family has historically been contentious, and Ramírez (2014) synonymised it with the previously recognised family Zoridae. This redefined clade is supported by features of the male palps, including a retrolateral cymbial groove, a median apophysis continuous with the embolus with the base directed forwards, and a partially membranous retrolateral tibial apophysis bearing a canal. Most genera, excluding Teminius, have the piriform spigots of the spinnerets larger in males than in females (Ramírez 2014). The genus Miturga has the eye-rows nearly straight whereas in Zora they are strongly recurved so the anterior lateral eyes are closer to the posterior median eyes. Parallel eye rows are also characteristic of the Indo-Australian Systariinae which also have tapering anterior lateral spinnerets and a deep thoracic groove.

Characters (from Ramírez 2014): Legs with two claws. Male palp bearing retrolateral tibial apophysis, usually with a canal and a membranous area; retrolateral groove usually present on cymbium; embolus arising centrally on tegulum, with median apophysis arising in a continuum from its base, directed forward.

<==Miturgidae [Miturginae, Zoridae, Zorinae]
    |--Teminius R14
    |    |--T. affinis JD-S07
    |    |--T. agalenoides R14
    |    |--T. hirsutus R14
    |    `--T. insularis (Lucas 1857) L-M-HG08
    `--+--+--Syspira eclectica R14
       |  `--Systariinae R14
       |       |--Systaria R14
       |       |--Palicanus R14
       |       |--Tamin R14
       |       `--Xantharia R14
       `--+--Zora Koch 1847 R14
          |    |--Z. parallela Simon 1878 K02
          |    |--Z. silvestris RKD02
          |    `--Z. spinimana (Sundevall 1832) K55
          `--Miturga Thorell 1870 R14, CH12
               |  i. s.: M. agelenina B96
               |         M. albomaculata E07
               |         M. severa Simon 1909 M54
               |--M. lineata R14
               `--+--M. gilva R14
                  `--Mituliodon tarantulinus R14

Miturgidae incertae sedis:
  Pacificana Hogg 1904 PVD10
    `--*P. cockayni Hogg 1904 PVD10
  Diaprograpta Simon 1909 JD-S07, PVD10
  Prochora JD-S07
  Syrisca JD-S07
  Zealoctenus Forster & Wilton 1973 PVD10
    `--*Z. cardronaensis Forster & Wilton 1973 PVD10
  Hestimodema Simon 1909 R08
  Odomasta Simon 1909 R08
  Elassoctenus Simon 1909 R08
  Thasyraea Koch 1878 R08
  Simonus Ritsema 1881 R08
  Hoedillus Simon 1898 JD-S07
  Israzorides Levy 2003 JD-S07
  Zoroides Berland 1924 JD-S07
  Argoctenus Koch 1878 R08
    `--A. aureus (Hogg 1911) [=Nemoctenus aureus, A. aurens (l. c.)] PVD10
  Tuxoctenus Raven 2008 R08
    |--*T. gloverae Raven 2008 R08
    |--T. linnaei Raven 2008 R08
    `--T. mcdonaldae Raven 2008 R08
  Eupograpta R14
  Mitzoruga R14
  Nuliodon R14
  Parapostenus R14
  Pseudoceto R14
  Voraptus Simon 1898 R14, JD-S07
    `--*V. tenellus (Simon 1893) JD-S07

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B96] Brunet, B. 1996. Spiderwatch: A Guide to Australian Spiders. Reed New Holland: Sydney.

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

[E07] Elliott, M. G. 2007. Annotated catalogue of the Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) of Australia. Zootaxa 1428: 1–83.

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

[K02] Koponen, S. 2002. Ground-living spiders in bogs in northern Europe. Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 262–267.

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

[L-M-HG08] Lo-Man-Hung, N. F., T. A. Gardner, M. A. Ribeiro-Júnior, J. Barlow & A. B. Bonaldo. 2008. The value of primary, secondary, and plantation forests for Neotropical epigeic arachnids. Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 394–401.

[M54] Main, B. Y. 1954. Spiders and Opiliones. In: Willis, J. H. (ed.) The Archipelago of the Recherche pp. 37–53. Australian Geographical Society: Melbourne.

[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).

[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.

[R08] Raven, R. J. 2008. Revisions of Australian ground-hunting spiders: III. Tuxoctenus gen. nov. (Araneomorphae: Zoridae). Records of the Western Australian Museum 24 (4): 351–361.

[RKD02] Relys, V., S. Koponen & D. Dapkus. 2002. Annual differences and species turnover in peat bog spider communities. Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 416–424.

Last updated: 23 January 2022.