Nursery web spider explained

Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1890.^[1] Females of the family are known for building special nursery webs. When their eggs are about to hatch, a female spider builds a tent-like web, places her egg sac inside, and stands guard outside, hence the family's common name. Like wolf spiders, however, nursery web spiders are roaming hunters that do not use webs for catching prey.

Species occur throughout the world except for extremely dry or cold environments, and are common just about everywhere. Many can walk on the surface of still bodies of water and may even dive beneath the surface temporarily to escape enemies. They can jump a distance of 5to, but they have trouble climbing extremely smooth surfaces such as glass.

The name "nursery web spider" is especially given to the European species Pisaura mirabilis, but this family also includes fishing spiders and raft spiders. Adult female specimens may reach up to 15 mm in length, excluding legs. The legs of the male are longer in relation to body size than those of the female.^[2]

The female spider sometimes attempts to eat the male after mating. The male, to reduce the risk of this, often presents the female with a gift such as a fly when approaching in the hope that this will satisfy her hunger. Sometimes, this gift is a fake present intended to fool the female.^[3] Males may wrap the fake gift in silk, to deceive the female to mate. Females can detect the fake gift and terminate mating, negating the male's deception in not giving a real gift.^[4]

Nursery web spiders resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for some key differences. The posterior lateral eyes of wolf spiders are relatively far back and point sideways. In nursery web spiders, the posterior lateral eyes are closer to the posterior median eyes.^[5] Also, female nursery web spiders carry their egg sacs with their chelicerae instead of attaching them to their spinnerets as wolf spiders do.^[6]

Genera

See main article: List of Pisauridae species., the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera:^[7]

• Afropisaura Blandin, 1976 — Africa
• Archipirata Simon, 1898 — Turkmenistan, China
• Architis Simon, 1898 — South America, Trinidad, Panama
• Blandinia Tonini, Paulo da Silva, Serpa Filho & Freitas, 2016 — Madagascar
• Bradystichus Simon, 1884 — New Caledonia
• Caledomedes Raven & Hebron, 2018 — New Caledonia
• Caripetella Strand, 1928 — Madagascar, Comoros
• Charminus Thorell, 1899 — Africa
• Chiasmopes Pavesi, 1883 — Ethiopia, Namibia, South Africa
• Cispinilus Roewer, 1955 — Central Africa
• Cispius Simon, 1898 — South Africa, Congo
• Cladycnis Simon, 1898 — Canary Is.
• Conakrya Schmidt, 1956 — Guinea
• Dendrolycosa Doleschall, 1859 — Asia, Africa, Oceania
• Dolomedes Latreille, 1804 — Africa, Oceania, South America, North America, Asia, Cuba
• Eucamptopus Pocock, 1900 — India
• Euprosthenops Pocock, 1897 — Africa, India
• Euprosthenopsis Blandin, 1974 — Africa
• Hala Jocqué, 1994 — Madagascar
• Hygropoda Thorell, 1894 — Africa, Asia, Australia
• Ilipula Simon, 1903 — Vietnam
• Inola Davies, 1982 — Australia
• Mangromedes Raven, 2018 — Australia
• Maypacius Simon, 1898 — Africa
• Megadolomedes Davies & Raven, 1980 — Australia
• Nilus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 — Asia, Africa
• Ornodolomedes Raven & Hebron, 2018 — Australia
• Papakula Strand, 1911 — Indonesia
• Paracladycnis Blandin, 1979 — Madagascar
• Perenethis L. Koch, 1878 — Asia, Comoros, Oceania
• Phalaeops Roewer, 1955 — Mozambique, Djibouti
• Pisaura Simon, 1886 — Asia
• Pisaurina Simon, 1898 — United States, Canada, Cuba
• Polyboea Thorell, 1895 — Asia
• Qianlingula Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2004
• Rothus Simon, 1898 — Israel, South Africa
• Sphedanus Thorell, 1877 — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia
• Stoliczka O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885 — Pakistan
• Tallonia Simon, 1889 — Madagascar
• Tapinothele Simon, 1898 — Tanzania
• Tapinothelella Strand, 1909 — South Africa
• Tapinothelops Roewer, 1955 — Ethiopia
• Tasmomedes Raven, 2018 — Australia
• Tetragonophthalma Karsch, 1878 —
• Thalassiopsis Roewer, 1955 — Madagascar
• Thaumasia Perty, 1833 — Central America, South America, Mexico
• Tinus F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1901 — India, Cuba, North America, Central America
• Tolma Jocqué, 1994 — Madagascar
• Voraptipus Roewer, 1955 — Mozambique
• Vuattouxia Blandin, 1979 — Côte d'Ivoire
• Walrencea Blandin, 1979 — South Africa
• Paraeomolomedes Blandin, 1979 — South America
• Meglaomedes Blandin, 1979 — north africa
• inosalptoneus Blandin, 1979 — South Africa
• kilokilptous Blandin, 1979 — South Africa
• Megnatoplus Blandin, 1979 — South Africa
• Eopatinus Blandin, 1979 — South Africa

Some fossilized spiders have also been assigned to this family:^[8]

• †Eopisaurella Petrunkevitch, 1958 (Early Eocene; Baltic amber)
• †Palaeoperenethis Seldon & Penney, 2009 (Ypresian, British Columbia, Canada)

See also

• List of Pisauridae species

References

1. Book: Simon, E.. 1890. Etudes arachnologiques.
2. 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0957. 26911340. Benefits of size dimorphism and copulatory silk wrapping in the sexually cannibalistic nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira. Biology Letters. 12. 2. 20150957. 4780555. 2016. Anderson. Alissa G.. Hebets. Eileen A..
3. https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/male-spiders-scam-females-with-gift-11-11-21/ Male Spiders Scam Females with Gift-Wrapped Garbage
4. Albo. Maria J. Winther. Gudrun. Tuni. Cristina. Toft. Søren. Bilde. Trine. 2011-11-14. Worthless donations: male deception and female counter play in a nuptial gift-giving spider. BMC Evolutionary Biology. En. 11. 1. 329. 10.1186/1471-2148-11-329. 3228764. 22082300 . free . 2011BMCEE..11..329A .
5. Montgomery . Thomas H. . Descriptions of North American Araneae of the Families Lycosidæ and Pisauridæ . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . 1904 . 56 . 1 . 261–323 . 4062862 . 0097-3157. 2027/osu.32435012300505 . free .
6. Carico . James E. . The Spider Genus Tinus (Pisauridae) . Psyche: A Journal of Entomology . 1976 . 83 . 1 . 63–78. 10.1155/1976/79585 . free .
7. Web site: Family: Pisauridae Simon, 1890. World Spider Catalog. 2019-04-23. Natural History Museum Bern.
8. Web site: Dunlop . J.A. . Penney . D. . Jekel . D. . 2015 . A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives . World Spider Catalog . Natural History Museum Bern . 2016-03-15 .