Caponioid Spiders - Superfamily: Caponioidea
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The Superfamily: Caponioidea is made up of two familes one of which, the Caponiidae, is made of 142 species in 20 genera in 2 subfamilies plus one unplaced genus. The Caponiidae are most unusual spiders in that most have only two eyes although some have four, six or eight. They are very small to small, ecribellate spiders that lack book lungs. Caponiids are a relative newcomer, their oldest recorded fossils no older than 20.4 My and most extant species are endemic to the Americas but, there are a few from Southern Africa and two species from the Far-East. The other family are the Tetrablemmidae * or Armoured Spiders which are the more ancient of the two with fossils found that are upto 100 My old. This family of 151 species in 27 genera has a scattered distribution in many of the hotter parts of the world.
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Despite the fact that the Tetrablemmidae are most diverse in Indonesia and the Far-East, they are not well represented in Australia however with only three species from the Genus: Tetrablemma recorded so far, the latest a sub-terranean blind species, T. alaus, from north-western Australia having been described in 2010.
The species of Tetrablemma also stand out in that they have only four eyes, a feature that is unique to this genus and yo some members of the Family: Caponiidae. Some species are cave-dwellers and are adapted as such: they may have bad eye-sight and relatively soft bodies. In general, the Tetrablemmidae are very small to small spiders and as such are not easily found. Most are ground-dwellers and leaf litter and soil needs to be searched to find them. |
* = An alternative spelling of Tetrablemmatidae is used by Ono & Ogata (2018). It is not used here.
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Of the three Australian species of Tetrablemma only T. magister is a candidate for presence in the Northern Rivers. The Tetrablemma sp. record from N.S.W. from 22-04-2002 is not identified to species level but the location can safely be considered too far out of range for either T. alaus or T. okei, which occurs in Victoria.
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Family: Tetrablemmidae
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Tetrablemma magister
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Caponi
Taxonomy:
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
> Subphylum: Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
> Class: Arachnida (Arachnids)
> Order: Aranea (Spiders)
> Suborder: Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
> Infraorder: Haplogynae (Haplogyne Spiders)
> Superfamily: Caponioidea (Caponioid Spiders)
> Family: Tetrablemmidae (Armoured Spiders)
> Genus: Tetrablemma
> Species: T. magister ^
* = likely
^ = possibly
Taxonomy:
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
> Subphylum: Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
> Class: Arachnida (Arachnids)
> Order: Aranea (Spiders)
> Suborder: Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
> Infraorder: Haplogynae (Haplogyne Spiders)
> Superfamily: Caponioidea (Caponioid Spiders)
> Family: Tetrablemmidae (Armoured Spiders)
> Genus: Tetrablemma
> Species: T. magister ^
* = likely
^ = possibly
References and links:
> Burger, M., (2008). 'Two new species of armoured spiders from Malaysia and Australia (Arachnida: Araneae: Tetrablemmidae).' Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 14(6): 253-261. doi:10.13156/arac.2011.14.6.253
> Burger, M., Harvey, M.S. and Stevens, N., (2010). 'A new species of blind subterranean Tetrablemma (Araneae: Tetrablemmidae) from Australia.' Journal of Arachnology 38: 146-149.
> Butler, L.S.G., (1932). 'Studies in Australian spiders. No. 2.' Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 44: 103-117.
> Fardiansah, R., Dupérré, N., Widyastuti, R., Potapov, A., Scheu, S. and Harms D., (2019). 'Description of four new species of armoured spiders (Araneae, Tetrablemmidae) from Sumatra, Indonesia.' Zookeys. 2019 Jan 29;(820):95-118. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.820.29363.
> Ono, H. and Ogata, K., (2018). ' Spiders of Japan: their natural history and diversity.' Tokai University Press, Kanagawa, Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caponiidae
https://www.mindat.org/taxon-3399.html
https://www.mindat.org/taxon-9581.html
> Burger, M., (2008). 'Two new species of armoured spiders from Malaysia and Australia (Arachnida: Araneae: Tetrablemmidae).' Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 14(6): 253-261. doi:10.13156/arac.2011.14.6.253
> Burger, M., Harvey, M.S. and Stevens, N., (2010). 'A new species of blind subterranean Tetrablemma (Araneae: Tetrablemmidae) from Australia.' Journal of Arachnology 38: 146-149.
> Butler, L.S.G., (1932). 'Studies in Australian spiders. No. 2.' Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 44: 103-117.
> Fardiansah, R., Dupérré, N., Widyastuti, R., Potapov, A., Scheu, S. and Harms D., (2019). 'Description of four new species of armoured spiders (Araneae, Tetrablemmidae) from Sumatra, Indonesia.' Zookeys. 2019 Jan 29;(820):95-118. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.820.29363.
> Ono, H. and Ogata, K., (2018). ' Spiders of Japan: their natural history and diversity.' Tokai University Press, Kanagawa, Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caponiidae
https://www.mindat.org/taxon-3399.html
https://www.mindat.org/taxon-9581.html
Photographic contributions: