Superregnum: Eukaryota
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: Mysmenidae
Genus: Mysmenopsis
Species: M. alvaroi – M. amazonica – M. angamarca – M. archeri – M. atahualpa – M. awa – M. baerti – M. bartolozzii – M. beebei – M. capac – M. chiquita – M. choco – M. cidrelicola – M. cienaga – M. corazon – M. cube – M. cymbia – M. dipluramigo – M. femoralis – M. fernandoi – M. funebris – M. furtiva – M. gamboa – M. guanza – M. guayaca – M. huascar – M. hunachi – M. ischnamigo – M. ixlitla – M. junin – M. kochalkai – M. lasrocas – M. lloa – M. mexcala – M. monticola – M. onorei – M. otokiki – M. otonga – M. pachacutec – M. palpalis – M. penai – M. pululahua – M. salazarae – M. schlingeri – M. shushufindi – M. tengellacompa – M. tepuy – M. tibialis – M. tungurahua – M. viracocha – M. wygodzinskyi – M. yupanqui
Name
Mysmenopsis Simon, 1898
Type species: Mysmenopsis femoralis Simon, 1898
Synonymy
Lucarachne Bryant, 1940 (synonymized by Platnick & Shadab, 1978: 5)
Type species: Lucarachne tibialis Bryant, 1940
References
Primary references
Additional references
Dupérré, N. & Tapia, E. 2020. Megadiverse Ecuador: a review of Mysmenopsis (Araneae, Mysmenidae) of Ecuador, with the description of twenty-one new kleptoparasitic spider species. Zootaxa 4761(1): 001–081. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4761.1.1. Paywall. Reference page.
Mysmenopsis is a kleptoparasitic genus of tiny tropical and subtropical American spiders in the family Mysmenidae. Most live in the funnelwebs of spiders in the family Dipluridae. M. archeri lives on webs of a species in the family Pholcidae, M. capae and M. cienga have been observed living in Cyrtophora (Araneidae) webs. One reason why diplurid webs are preferred seems to be that they are persistent in time and space, sometimes spanning several years.
The monotypic genus Isela is closely related.
Mysmenopsis furtiva from Jamaica lives as a kleptoparasite and commensal in webs of Ischnothele xera. It steals portions of its host's prey, but also consumes minute trapped insects that are not sought after by the host. In order not to be recognized, it moves only slowly when the host does not move; else it synchronizes its rapid movements with the movements of the host. M. furtiva has been observed to feed on one end of a prey animal, while the host feeds on the other. When feeding, its legs and pedipalps remain motionless, but its abdomen sways slowly and slightly. One feeding bout can double its abdominal volume. The host shows anti-kleptoparasite behavior, amongst others by adding silk between the kleptoparasite and the feeding site.
The closely related M. furtiva and M. monticola parasitize two spider species that are also closely related, and it is believed that the two groups coevolved.
Species
Mysmenopsis archeri Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Brazil
Mysmenopsis atahualpa Baert, 1990 — Peru
Mysmenopsis beebei (Gertsch, 1960) — Trinidad
Mysmenopsis capac Baert, 1990 — Peru
Mysmenopsis cidrelicola (Simon, 1895) — Venezuela
Mysmenopsis cienaga Müller, 1987 — Colombia, Peru
Mysmenopsis cymbia (Levi, 1956) — USA
Mysmenopsis dipluramigo Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Panama
Mysmenopsis femoralis Simon, 1897 — (St. Vincent
Mysmenopsis funebris Simon, 1897 — St. Vincent
Mysmenopsis furtiva Coyle & Meigs, 1989 — Jamaica
Mysmenopsis gamboa Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Panama
Mysmenopsis huascar Baert, 1990 — Peru
Mysmenopsis ischnamigo Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Panama, Trinidad, Peru
Mysmenopsis ixlitla (Levi, 1956) — Mexico
Mysmenopsis kochalkai Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Colombia
Mysmenopsis mexcala Gertsch, 1960 — Mexico
Mysmenopsis monticola Coyle & Meigs, 1989 — Jamaica
Mysmenopsis pachacutec Baert, 1990 — Peru
Mysmenopsis palpalis (Kraus, 1955) — Mexico, Honduras
Mysmenopsis penai Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Ecuador
Mysmenopsis schlingeri Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Peru
Mysmenopsis tengellacompa Platnick, 1993 — Costa Rica
Mysmenopsis tibialis (Bryant, 1940) — Cuba
Mysmenopsis viracocha Baert, 1990 — Peru
Mysmenopsis wygodzinskyi Platnick & Shadab, 1978 — Peru
Mysmenopsis yupanqui Baert, 1990 — Peru
References
Chickering, A.M. (1960). The Female of Lucarachne beebei Gertsch (Araneae: Symphytognathidae). Psyche 67:95-97 PDF
Platnick, N.I. & Shadab, M.U. (1978). A review of the spider genus Mysmenopsis (Araneae, Mysmenidae). American Museum Novitates 2661. PDF - Abstract
Coyle, F.A. & Meigs, T.E. (1989). Two new species of kleptoparasitic Mysmenopsis (Araneae, Mysmenidae) from Jamaica. Journal of Arachnology 17(1):59-70 PDF
Coyle, F.A., O'Shields, T.C. & Perlmutter, D.G. (1991). Observations on the behavior of the kleptoparasitic spider, Mysmenopsis furtiva (Araneae, Mysmenidae). Journal of Arachnology 19(1):62-66 PDF
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