Toxopid  Spiders  -  Family:  Toxopidae

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      The Family: Toxopidae was first suggested by the Tasmanian entomologist and spider expert, Vernon Victor Hickman in 1940 to accomodate a new species and genus from Mount Wellington in Tasmania.   Having spent some time as a subfamily to the Desidae, family status was reinstated in 2016 by Wheeler et al.  The family has also seen a number of additions and as of November 2023 contains 82 species in 14 genera.  Most of these are endemic to New Zealand but about 17 species occur in Australia and a few are found on some of the island territories as well. They are not found elsewhere in the world.

      The original species described by Hickman from Tasmania has also been recorded twice in the Border Ranges.  First in Queensland in 1976 and again in 1995 but this time in N.S.W.just south of the border.  It is not here regarded as a species of the Northern Rivers however.
Only three species from two genera - Midgee and Toxopsoides - are considered local.    They are tiny to small spiders that are all relatively recent discoveries and  subsequent additions to the family. Not much is known about them but they are presumed to be hunting spiders rather than spiders that create a web.
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      Midgee binnaburra

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      Midgee parva

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      Toxopsoides erici

      

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Taxonomy:
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Phylum:   Arthropoda   (Arthropods)
          > Subphylum:   Chelicerata   (Chelicerates)
                    > Class:   Arachnida   (Arachnids) 
                                        > Order:   Aranea   (Spiders)
                                                  > Suborder:   Araneomorphae   (Typical Spiders)
                                                            > Infraorder:   Entelegynea   (Entelegyne Spiders)
                                                                      > Superfamily:   Dictynoidea   (Meshweavers and Allies)
                                                                                > Family:   Toxopidae   (Toxopid Spiders)
​​ ​                                                                                                   > Genus:   Midgee
                                                                                                              > Species:   M. binnaburra
                                                                                                              > Species:   M. parva
​​​ ​                                                                                                   > Genus:   Toxopsoides
                                                                                                              > Species:   T. erici

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References  and  links:
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>      Davies, V.T.,  (1995).    'A tiny litter spider (Araneae: Amaurobioidea) from Australian rainforests.'   Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 52: 119-129.
>      Forster, R.R.   and  Wilton, C.L.,  (1973).   'The spiders of New Zealand. Part IV.'  Otago Museum Bulletin 4: 1-309.
>      Hickman, V.V.,  (1940).  'The Toxopidae, a new family of spiders.'   Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania". 1939: 125–130.
>      Smith, H.M.,  (2013).   'The spider genus Toxopsoides (Araneae: Desidae: Toxopinae): new records and species from Australia."   Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 135: 19-43. 
>      Wheeler, W.C.,  et al,  (2016).   'The spider tree of life: phylogeny of Araneae based on target-gene analyses from an extensive taxon sampling.'   Cladistics, 33 (6): 574–616,   doi:10.1111/cla.12182

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Victor_Hickman

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Photographic   contributions:

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