Oecobiidae

Life-forms

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: Eresoidea

Familia: Oecobiidae
Subfamiliae: Lebanoecobiinae – Mizaliinae – Oecobiinae – Leucauginae
Genera: Oecobius – Paroecobius – Platoecobius – Uroctea – Urocteana – Uroecobius – †Retrooecobius – †Zamilia
Name

Oecobiidae Blackwall, 1862
Synonyms

Urocteidae

References

Blackwall, J. 1862. Descriptions of newly discovered spiders captured in Rio de Janeiro, by John Gray and the Rev. Hamlet Clark [part]. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (3)10: 348-360. Reference page.
Magalhães, M.D.F. & Santos, A.J. 2018. The spider family Oecobiidae in Madagascar, including four new species and a new record. Zootaxa 4527(1): 37–48. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4527.1.3 Paywall Reference page.
Paquin, P., Vink, C.J. & Dupérré, N. 2010. Spiders of New Zealand: annotated family key & species list. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-478-34705-0
Wunderlich, J. 2008. The dominance of ancient spider families of the Araneae: Haplogyne in the Cretaceous, and the late diversification of advanced ecribellate spiders of the Entelegynae after the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary extinction events, with descriptions of new families. Beiträge zur Araneologie 5: 524–675. Reference page.
Wunderlich, J. 2015. On the evolution and the classification of spiders, the Mesozoic spider faunas, and descriptions of new Cretaceous taxa mainly in amber from Myanmar (Burma) (Arachnida: Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie 9: 21–408. Reference page.

Links

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

Vernacular names
English: Disc web spiders
日本語: チリグモ科
한국어: 티끌거미과
中文: 埃蛛科

Oecobiidae, also called disc web spiders, is a family of araneomorph spiders, including about 100 described species.[1] They are small to moderate sized spiders (about 2 to 20 millimetres (0.079 to 0.787 in) long combined head and body length, depending on the species. Larger ones tend to be desert-dwelling. The legs are unusually evenly placed around the prosoma; most other spiders have some legs directed clearly forward and the rest clearly backward, or all forward. The first two pairs of legs of many Oecobiids point forward then curve backwards; somehow in a running spider this gives a curiously scurrying, wheel-like impression that is characteristic of many Oecobiidae, and is helpful as a rough-and-ready aid to identification in the field. Characteristic of the family is the anal gland; it bears a tuft of long hairs. Typical colour patterns range from dark-patterned cream in some smaller species, to a small number of symmetrically-placed, conspicuous round light spots (commonly yellow or white) on a background that may be anything from a dull orange colour to black. The carapace is rounded and bears a compact group of six to eight eyes medially situated near the front of its dorsal surface.[2]

Many Oecobiidae build small, temporary star-shaped webs on or under rocks, or on walls or gravel. They hide near or below such webs and prey largely on ants, giving rise to common names such as "anteater" or "miervreter" (Afrikaans for anteater).[2] Some of the Oecobiidae build tiny webs close to the ceilings in people's homes, which might have something to do with the family name (Oeco biidae meaning in essence "those who are house-living"[3]).

The species Oecobius navus occurs around the world.

While the genus Oecobius is cribellate, the genus Uroctea is ecribellate.
Genera
Main article: List of Oecobiidae species

As of April 2019, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera:[1]

Oecobius Lucas, 1846 — Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Brazil, Costa Rica, Oceania
Paroecobius Lamoral, 1981 — South Africa, Madagascar, Botswana
Platoecobius Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 — United States, Argentina
Uroctea Dufour, 1820 — Asia, Africa
Urocteana Roewer, 1961 — Senegal
Uroecobius Kullmann & Zimmermann, 1976 — South Africa

Extinct genera

†Mizalia Koch and Berendt 1854 Baltic amber, Eocene
†Zamilia Wunderlich 2008 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian