Ochyroceratidae
| Midget ground weavers Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Theotima minutissima in Australia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Ochyroceratidae Fage, 1912 |
| Diversity | |
| 9 genera, 184 species | |
| blue: reported countries (WSC) | |
Ochyroceratidae is a six-eyed spider family, with almost 200 described species in nine genera.[1]
They are common inhabitants of caves and the tropical forest litter of South Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and South America.[2] Considered an ecological counterpart of the Linyphiidae of the northern temperate zone,[3] species are especially diverse in the Indo-Pacific region.
These spiders build small, irregular sheet-webs in dark, damp places and typically carry eggs in their chelicerae until they hatch. Body length can range from 0.6 to 3.0 millimetres (0.024 to 0.118 in), and some species with very long legs (Althepus, Leclercera) are superficially similar to members of Pholcidae.[3] Differences between males and females are still relatively unknown, but at least one species in the genus Theotima (T. minutissima) was shown to be parthenogenetic.[4]
Genera
As of January 2026, this family includes nine genera and 184 species:[1]
- Dundocera Machado, 1951 – Angola
- Euso Saaristo, 2001 – Seychelles
- Lundacera Machado, 1951 – Angola
- Ochyrocera Simon, 1892 – Cuba, Hispaniola, St. Vincent, Guatemala, Mexico, Samoa, South America, Lesser Antilles
- Ouette Saaristo, 1998 – Seychelles, China
- Psiloochyrocera Baert, 2014 – Ecuador
- Roche Saaristo, 1998 – Seychelles
- Speocera Berland, 1914 – Angola, Cameroon, Kenya, Madagascar, Seychelles, Asia, Cuba, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Brazil, Ecuador, Galapagos, East Africa
- Theotima Simon, 1893 – Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent, Panama, Hawaii, Mexico, Galapagos, Venezuela, Tropical Asia. Introduced to Seychelles, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Panama, Guam
References
- ^ a b "Family Ochyroceratidae Fage, 1912". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
- ^ Baptista, R.L.C. (2003). "Speocera eleonorae sp. n., the first troglomorphic spider from Brazilian caves (Araneae: Ochyroceratidae)" (PDF). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología. 7: 221–224. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
- ^ a b Tong, Yangfeng; Li, Shuqiang (2007). "First records of the family Ochyroceratidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from China, with descriptions of a new genus and eight new species" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 55 (1): 63–76. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
- ^ Edwards, G.B. (2003). "Observations of Theotima minutissimus (Araneae, Ochyroceratidae), a parthenogenetic spider" (PDF). The Journal of Arachnology. 31 (2): 274–277. doi:10.1636/0161-8202(2003)031[0274:OOTMAO]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 1705695. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
External links