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Typical Spiders - Suborder: Araneomorphae
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“Whoever authorized the evolution of the spiders of Australia should be summarily dragged out into the street and shot.”
Mira Grant, (pseud. b. 1978 as Seanan McGuire, American author) from the book: 'How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea' (2013)
Mira Grant, (pseud. b. 1978 as Seanan McGuire, American author) from the book: 'How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea' (2013)
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By far the largest group of spiders are in the Suborder: Araneomorphae (aka Labidognatha) with about 93.1 % of all spiders described sofar belonging to this suborder. The one feature that sets them apart from their relatives is that their fangs point diagonally forward and because of their curvature, cross each other in a pinching action. In Mygalomorphs the fangs go straight down.
The suborder is divided into two Infraorders. Of these two the Infraorder: Entelegynae is fairly well settled taxonomically. The other, Infraorder: Haplogynae, however, not so at all. As a matter of fact there is so much disagreement about the Haplogynae that the division of the Order: Aranae itself is by no means certain. For now, the divisions used here on The Northern Rivers Project stay as they are. |
There are other, less obvious features that set the Araneomorphs apart . They have only one booklung as opposed to their cousins having two. And, they are rather short-lived with the females of most species not living for more than a single year. Mygalomorph females often live for much longer.
Nearly all of the spiders most people are familiar with come from this suborder. That includes, Daddy-long-legs, Orb Weavers, Huntsmen, Flower Spiders, Wolf Spiders, Jumping Spiders etc. Whereas many of the Araeomorphs are black, grey or brown, there are many brightly coloured species as well. There are also quite a few mimics and spiders that employ camouflage either by form, behaviour or colouring. To some people they are as fascinating as they are scary to others. |
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It was HOW big?? Spiders size is usually expressed as a measure from the front of the cephalothorax to the rear end of the abdomen. Their legs can be measured separately of course, but those measurements are not always relevant as legs can get amputated and re-grow at the next moult but may not get to be the same length again. On this website the terms tiny, very small, small, medium, large and very large are commonly used to describe the size of the family or genus in general. These are comparative terms only. On those occassions when size does matter, it will be mentioned, measured as above, in millimeters.
References and links:
> Coddington, J.A., (2005). 'Phylogeny and classification of spiders. in: Ubick, D.; Paquin, P.; Cushing, P.E. and Roth, V. (eds.). (2005). 'Spiders of North America: an identification manual.' American Arachnological Society. pp. 18–24.
> Framenau, V.W., Baehr, B.C. and Zborowski, P., (2014). 'A Guide to the Spiders of Australia.' New Holland Publishers, Chatswood, N.S.W.
https://wsc.nmbe.ch/statistics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araneomorphae
> Coddington, J.A., (2005). 'Phylogeny and classification of spiders. in: Ubick, D.; Paquin, P.; Cushing, P.E. and Roth, V. (eds.). (2005). 'Spiders of North America: an identification manual.' American Arachnological Society. pp. 18–24.
> Framenau, V.W., Baehr, B.C. and Zborowski, P., (2014). 'A Guide to the Spiders of Australia.' New Holland Publishers, Chatswood, N.S.W.
https://wsc.nmbe.ch/statistics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araneomorphae
Header photo:
Nick Lambert.
Nick Lambert.