Arachnura

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Classis: Arachnida
Ordo: Araneae
Subordo: Opisthothelae
Infraordo: Araneomorphae
Taxon: Neocribellatae
Series: Entelegynae
Superfamilia: Araneoidea

Familia: Araneidae
Subfamilia: Araneinae
Tribus: Arachnurini
Genus: Arachnura
Species: A. angura – A. caudatella – A. feredayi – A. heptotubercula – A. higginsi – A. logio – A. melanura – A. perfissa – A. pygmaea – A. quinqueapicata – A. scorpionoides – A. simoni – A. spinosa
Name

Arachnura Vinson, 1863

Type species: Arachnura scorpionoides Vinson, 1863
References

Platnick, N. I. 2008. The World Spider Catalog, version 9.0. American Museum of Natural History. [1]

Vernacular names
English: Arachnura

Arachnura, also known as drag-tailed spider, scorpion-tailed spider and scorpion spider, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders that was first described by A. Vinson in 1863.[2] They are distributed across Australasia, Southern and Eastern Asia with one species from Africa.[1] Females can grow up to 1 to 3 centimetres (0.39 to 1.18 in) long, while males reach only 2 millimetres (0.079 in) long. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek "arachne-" (ἀράχνη) and "uro" (οὐρά), meaning "tail". The tails are only present on females, but unlike the common names suggests, these spiders aren't related to scorpions. They curl up their tails when disturbed, but they are completely harmless. Bites are rare, and result in minor symptoms such as local pain and swelling.[3] They stay at the middle of their web day and night, and their bodies mimic plant litter, such as fallen flowers, twigs, or dead leaves.

Arachnura logio is called Kijiro o-hiki-gumo in Japanese. A. feredayi is commonly called Tailed forest spider. A. higginsi is often found in large numbers near water in Australia.
Species

As of February 2020 it contains twelve species, found in Africa, Oceania, and Asia:[1]

Arachnura angura Tikader, 1970 – India
Arachnura feredayi (L. Koch, 1872) – New Zealand
Arachnura heptotubercula Yin, Hu & Wang, 1983 – China
Arachnura higginsi (L. Koch, 1872) – Australia
Arachnura logio Yaginuma, 1956 – China, Korea, Japan
Arachnura melanura Simon, 1867 – India to Indonesia (Sulawesi) and Japan, Papua New Guinea, Australia (Queensland)
Arachnura perfissa (Thorell, 1895) – Myanmar
Arachnura pygmaea (Thorell, 1890) – Indonesia (Nias Is.)
Arachnura quinqueapicata Strand, 1911 – Indonesia (Aru Is.)
Arachnura scorpionoides Vinson, 1863 (type) – Congo, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Mayotte, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion
Arachnura simoni Berland, 1924 – New Caledonia
Arachnura spinosa (Saito, 1933) – Taiwan

In synonymy:

A. longicauda Urquhart, 1885 = Arachnura feredayi (L. Koch, 1872)