Euctenizidae Explained

The Euctenizidae (formerly Cyrtaucheniidae subfamily Euctenizinae) are a family of mygalomorph spiders. They are now considered to be more closely related to Idiopidae.

Etymology

The name comes from the Greek prefix Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: εὖ- (eu-), meaning "valuable" or "good", which had been thought that the family Ctenizidae possess these traits.^[1]

Biology

Many, but not all, make wafer-like doors to their burrows, while others build the cork-like doors found commonly in the true trapdoor spiders. The biology of nearly all of the species is poorly known.

Distribution

The family occurs almost exclusively in the United States and Mexico. Common U.S. genera include Myrmekiaphila, Aptostichus and Promyrmekiaphila.

Genera

See main article: List of Euctenizidae species., the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera:^[2]

• Apomastus Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States
• Aptostichus Simon, 1891 — United States, Mexico
• Cryptocteniza Bond & Hamilton, 2020 — United States
• Entychides Simon, 1888 — United States, Mexico
• Eucteniza Ausserer, 1875 — Mexico, United States
• Myrmekiaphila Atkinson, 1886 — United States
• Neoapachella Bond & Opell, 2002 — United States
• Promyrmekiaphila Schenkel, 1950 — United States

See also

• List of Euctenizidae species
• Spider families

Notes and References

1. Bond, J. E., B. E. Hendrixson, C. A. Hamilton & M. Hedin. (Bond et al., 2012b) - A reconsideration of the classification of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Arachnida: Araneae) based on three nuclear genes and morphology
2. Web site: Family: Euctenizidae Raven, 1985. World Spider Catalog. 2019-04-20. Natural History Museum Bern.