Mimetus Explained

Mimetus is a genus of pirate spiders in the family Mimetidae. They are found worldwide.

Description

Members of this genus resemble the comb-footed spiders, Theridiidae, due to their globular abdomen. The upper side of this bears curved bristle-like hairs. A distinguishing mark of the genus is that the distance between the anterior edge of the carapace and the anterior medial eyes is about one-third to one-half of the distance between the anterior and posterior medial eyes. The length of the anterior legs is about 1.5-1.7 times that of the posterior pair.^[1]

Behaviour

Spiders in this genus are specialised spider killers. They spin no web but are slow moving, stalking or ambushing their prey. They sometimes invade the web of their potential victim, vibrating the silk to mislead the owner. An individual will attack a potential victim by biting one of its legs and injecting toxins. It then retreats and the prey spider quickly becomes paralysed. The attacker then advances and starts to feed, sucking out the body fluids of its victim.^{[1] [2]}

Species

The World Spider Catalog lists these species:

• Mimetus aktius Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 — USA
• Mimetus arushae Caporiacco, 1947 — Tanzania
• Mimetus banksi Chickering, 1947 — Panama
• Mimetus bifurcatus Reimoser, 1939 — Costa Rica
• Mimetus bigibbosus O. P.-Cambridge, 1894 — Mexico, Panama
• Mimetus bishopi Caporiacco, 1949 — Kenya
• Mimetus brasilianus Keyserling, 1886 — Brazil
• Mimetus caudatus Wang, 1990 — China
• Mimetus comorensis Schmidt & Krause, 1994 — Comoro Islands
• Mimetus cornutus Lawrence, 1947 — South Africa
• Mimetus crudelis O. P.-Cambridge, 1899 — Guatemala
• Mimetus debilispinis Mello-Leitão, 1943 — Brazil
• Mimetus dimissus Petrunkevitch, 1930 — Puerto Rico, Antigua
• Mimetus echinatus Wang, 1990 — China
• Mimetus epeiroides Emerton, 1882 — USA
• Mimetus fernandi Lessert, 1930 — Congo
• Mimetus haynesi Gertsch & Mulaik, 1940 — USA
• Mimetus hesperus Chamberlin, 1923 — USA
• Mimetus hieroglyphicus Mello-Leitão, 1929 — Brazil, Paraguay
• Mimetus hirsutus O. P.-Cambridge, 1899 — Mexico
• Mimetus hispaniolae Bryant, 1948 — Hispaniola
• Mimetus indicus Simon, 1906 — India
• Mimetus insidiator Thorell, 1899 — West Africa, São Tomé, Canary Islands
• Mimetus keyserlingi Mello-Leitão, 1929 — Peru, Brazil
• Mimetus labiatus Wang, 1990 — China
• Mimetus laevigatus (Keyserling, 1863) — Mediterranean to Central Asia
• Mimetus madacassus Emerit, 1996 — Madagascar
• Mimetus margaritifer Simon, 1901 — Malaysia
• Mimetus marjorieae Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 — Philippines
• Mimetus melanoleucus Mello-Leitão, 1929 — Brazil
• Mimetus monticola (Blackwall, 1870) — Sicily, Syria, Egypt
• Mimetus natalensis Lawrence, 1938 — South Africa
• Mimetus nelsoni Archer, 1950 — USA
• Mimetus notius Chamberlin, 1923 — USA
• Mimetus penicillatus Mello-Leitão, 1929 — Brazil
• Mimetus portoricensis Petrunkevitch, 1930 — Puerto Rico
• Mimetus puritanus Chamberlin, 1923 — USA
• Mimetus rapax O. P.-Cambridge, 1899 — Costa Rica, Panama
• Mimetus ridens Brignoli, 1975 — Philippines
• Mimetus rusticus Chickering, 1947 — Panama
• Mimetus ryukyus Yoshida, 1993 — Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands
• Mimetus saetosus Chickering, 1956 — Panama
• Mimetus sinicus Song & Zhu, 1993 — China
• Mimetus strinatii Brignoli, 1972 — Sri Lanka
• Mimetus syllepsicus Hentz, 1832 — USA, Mexico
• Mimetus syllepsicus molestus Chickering, 1937 — Mexico
• Mimetus testaceus Yaginuma, 1960 — China, Korea, Japan
• Mimetus tillandsiae Archer, 1941 — USA
• Mimetus triangularis (Keyserling, 1879) — Peru, Brazil
• Mimetus trituberculatus O. P.-Cambridge, 1899 — Panama
• Mimetus tuberculatus Liang & Wang, 1991 — China
• Mimetus variegatus Chickering, 1956 — Panama
• Mimetus verecundus Chickering, 1947 — Panama
• Mimetus vespillo Brignoli, 1980 — Sulawesi

Notes and References

1. http://www.jorgenlissner.dk/Mimetidae.aspx Spiders of Europe and Greenland
2. http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/InfoNed/enemies.html Spider enemies