Trechaleidae

Trechaleidae
Temporal range:
Syntrechalea sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Trechaleidae
Simon, 1890[1]
Diversity
18 genera, 137 species
blue: reported countries (WSC)
green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist)

Trechaleidae (tre-kah-LEE-ih-dee) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890.[2] It includes about 140 described species in 18 genera, mostly in the New World tropics.[1]

Other names for the family are longlegged water spiders and fishing spiders[3] (although members of the genus Dolomedes are also commonly called fishing spiders). The family Trechaleidae is closely related to Pisauridae (nursery web spiders) and Lycosidae (wolf spiders), and the three families are sometimes referred to as the lycosid group.[4]

Distribution

All members of this family live in Central and South America except for Shinobius orientalis, which is endemic to Japan.[5]

Genera

As of January 2026, this family includes eighteen genera and 137 species:[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Family Trechaleidae Simon, 1890". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2026-01-18.
  2. ^ Simon, E. (1890). Etudes arachnologiques.
  3. ^ "Family Trechaleidae". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
  4. ^ Hill, David Edwin (30 July 2023). "Practical issues related to cladistics and the classification of spiders" (PDF). Peckhamia. 303 (1): 1–12. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  5. ^ Yaginuma, T. (1991). "A new genus, Shinobius, of the Japanese pisaurid spider (Araneae: Pisauridae)". Acta Arachnologica. 40: 1–6. doi:10.2476/asjaa.40.1.

Further reading

  • Höfer, H. & A. D. Brescovit. On the spider genus Rhoicinus (Araneae, Trechaleidae) in a central Amazonian inundation forest. J. Arachnol. 22: 54-59. PDF
  • Carico, J. E. (1993b). Revision of the genus Trechalea Thorell (Araneae, Trechaleidae) with a review of the taxonomy of the Trechaleidae and Pisauridae of the Western Hemisphere. J. Arachnol. 21: 226-257. PDF