Idiopidae

Idiopidae
male Idiops constructor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Suborder:	Mygalomorphae
Infraorder:	Fornicephalae
Superfamily:	Idiopoidea
Family:	Idiopidae Simon, 1892
Genera
see text
Diversity
22 genera, 275 species

Idiopidae (superfamily Idiopoidea) are a mygalomorph spider family, also known as the armored trapdoor spiders. They have a large body that often looks rather like a tarantula.

Description

Gorgyrella sp.

In some species the males have a spur on their legs, which they will show if provoked.

Idiopidae build burrows, and some species close these with a door.

The about 2 cm long Prothemenops siamensis from Thailand builds its retreat in a streamside vertical earth bank in lower montane rain forest. Each burrow had two or three entrances that lead into a main tube. Its lateral posterior spinnerets are elongated.

Genera

The categorization into subfamilies follows Raven (1985)

• Arbanitinae Simon, 1903

• Aganippini

• Aganippe O. P-Cambridge, 1877 — Australia
• Anidiops Pocock, 1897 — Australia
• Eucyrtops Pocock, 1897 — Australia
• Idiosoma Ausserer, 1871 — Australia

• Arbanitini

• Arbanitis L. Koch, 1874 — Australia
• Blakistonia Hogg, 1902 — Australia
• Cantuaria Hogg, 1902 — New Zealand
• Cataxia Rainbow, 1914 — Australia
• Euoplos Rainbow, 1914 — Australia
• Misgolas Karsch, 1878 — Australia

• Genysinae Simon, 1903

• Genysa Simon, 1889 — Madagascar
• Hiboka Fage, 1922 — Madagascar
• Neocteniza Pocock, 1895 — Central and South America
• Scalidognathus Karsch, 1891 — India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles

• Idiopinae Simon, 1892

• Ctenolophus Purcell, 1904 — South Africa
• Galeosoma Purcell, 1903 — southern Africa
• Gorgyrella Purcell, 1902 — southern Africa
• Heligmomerus Simon, 1892 — Africa, India, Sri Lanka
• Idiops Perty, 1833 — South America, Africa, South Asia, Middle East
• Segregara Tucker, 1917 — South Africa
• Titanidiops Simon, 1903 — Africa, Canary Islands

• incertae sedis

• Prothemenops Schwendinger, 1991 — Thailand

• Prothemenops siamensis Schwendinger, 1991

See also

• List of Idiopidae species
• Spider families

References

• Raven, Robert John (1985). The spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182: 1-180.
• Find-a-spider Guide: Spider Families
• Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
• Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.

External links

• Find-a-spider Guide: Images of several species