Net-casting Spiders - Family: Deinopidae
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The family of the Net-casting Spiders were first described and named by the German arachnologist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850. It is a rather small family with 68 species in 3 genera currently recognised. They stand out as quite elongated spiders with long bodies and long legs which they sometimes carry two by two in an X-shape giving them an appearance superficially similar to that of some stick-insects. Most are nocturnal and thay produce small simple webs that they hold between the tips of the four front legs. When prey comes within range they will lunge forward spreading the web like a net hoping to snare the hapless insect within it.
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Deinopid Spiders are also known colloquially as Ogre-faced Spiders and this is in reference to their very large posterior median eyes. The other eyes are very much smaller in comparison and it appears as if they have only two eyes as a result. The large eyes are said to provide them with better vision at night than cats or owls. Part of the light-sensitive membrane within the eyes is re-grown every night. Oddly enough, for spiders, these creatures can also 'hear'. They have hairs and joint receptors on their legs that are capable of picking up sounds from more than 2 meters away. It is generally accepted that there are quite a few other species that can 'hear' by one means or another as well.
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The fossil record suggests that the deinopids have been around for nearly 100 My and so are a rather ancient kind of spider. Fossils, usually amber, have been found in Myanmar, Madagascar and the Baltic as well as in Lebanon. In Australia, amber is a very rare occurrence and that which has been found in Southern Victoria and Tasmania tends to be small fragmented pieces that may have plant or fungal matter inclusions and, sometimes small insects are discovered as well but organisms such as larger spiders are not found. In comparison Baltic amber is often found in large chunks of a few kilograms or so. The largest ever found is a 68+ kilo chunk of amber - from a coal mine in Indonesia - which, ironically, is now in the Amber Museum of the city of Gdansk, Poland, the very heartland of the worlds' amber production.
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Asianopis fasciata
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Asianopis ravida
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Rufous Net-casting Spider - Asianopis subrufa
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Aussie Net-caster - Menneus aussie
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L 357 - N.Lambert
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Menneus bituberculatus
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Menneus nemesio
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Eyebrowed Net-caster - Menneus superciliosus
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Taxonomy:
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
> Subphylum: Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
> Class: Arachnida (Arachnids)
> Order: Aranea (Spiders)
> Suborder: Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
> Infraorder: Entelegynea (Entelegyne Spiders)
> Superfamily: Uloboroidea (Hackled Orbweavers and Net-casting Spiders)
> Family: Deinopidae (Net-casting Spiders)
> Genus: Asianopis (Pantropical Ogre-faced Spiders)
> Species: A. fasciata
> Species: A. ravida
> Species: A. subrufa - Rufous Net-casting Spider
> Genus: Menneus (Hump-back Spiders)
> Species: M. aussie - Aussie Net-caster
> Species: M. bituberculatus
> Species: M. nemesio
> Species: M. superciliosus - Eyebrowed Net-caster
* = likely
^ = possibly
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
> Subphylum: Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
> Class: Arachnida (Arachnids)
> Order: Aranea (Spiders)
> Suborder: Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
> Infraorder: Entelegynea (Entelegyne Spiders)
> Superfamily: Uloboroidea (Hackled Orbweavers and Net-casting Spiders)
> Family: Deinopidae (Net-casting Spiders)
> Genus: Asianopis (Pantropical Ogre-faced Spiders)
> Species: A. fasciata
> Species: A. ravida
> Species: A. subrufa - Rufous Net-casting Spider
> Genus: Menneus (Hump-back Spiders)
> Species: M. aussie - Aussie Net-caster
> Species: M. bituberculatus
> Species: M. nemesio
> Species: M. superciliosus - Eyebrowed Net-caster
* = likely
^ = possibly
References and links:
> Koch, C.L., (1850). 'Ubersicht des Arachnidensytems.' Heft 5. J. L. Lotzbeck, Nürnberg, 77 pp. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.39561
> Lin, Y.J., Shao, L., Hänggi, A., Caleb, J.T.D., Koh, J.K.H., Jäger, P. and Li, S.Q., (2020). 'Asianopis gen. nov., a new genus of the spider family Deinopidae from Asia.' ZooKeys 911: 67-99. doi:10.3897/zookeys.911.38761
> Penney, D., (2003). 'A new deinopoid spider from Cretaceous Lebanese amber.' Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 48.
> Stilwell, J.D., Langendam, A., Mays, C. et al, 'Amber from the Triassic to Paleogene of Australia and New Zealand as exceptional preservation of poorly known terrestrial ecosystems.' Sci Rep 10, 5703 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62252-z
https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/how-spiders-see-the-world/
https://scitechdaily.com/ogre-faced-spiders-these-spiders-can-hear-even-though-they-have-no-ears/
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/66767-largest-piece-of-amber
https://www.mindat.org/taxon-7365.html
> Koch, C.L., (1850). 'Ubersicht des Arachnidensytems.' Heft 5. J. L. Lotzbeck, Nürnberg, 77 pp. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.39561
> Lin, Y.J., Shao, L., Hänggi, A., Caleb, J.T.D., Koh, J.K.H., Jäger, P. and Li, S.Q., (2020). 'Asianopis gen. nov., a new genus of the spider family Deinopidae from Asia.' ZooKeys 911: 67-99. doi:10.3897/zookeys.911.38761
> Penney, D., (2003). 'A new deinopoid spider from Cretaceous Lebanese amber.' Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 48.
> Stilwell, J.D., Langendam, A., Mays, C. et al, 'Amber from the Triassic to Paleogene of Australia and New Zealand as exceptional preservation of poorly known terrestrial ecosystems.' Sci Rep 10, 5703 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62252-z
https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/how-spiders-see-the-world/
https://scitechdaily.com/ogre-faced-spiders-these-spiders-can-hear-even-though-they-have-no-ears/
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/66767-largest-piece-of-amber
https://www.mindat.org/taxon-7365.html
Photographic contributions:
Lambert, Nick. L 357.
Lambert, Nick. L 357.