Psechridae

Psechridae
Fecenia cylindrata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Suborder:	Araneomorphae
Infraorder:	Entelegynae
Superfamily:	Lycosoidea
Family:	Psechridae James, 1989
Genera
see text
Diversity
2 genera, 24 species

The Psechridae are a family of spiders with about two dozen species in two living genera.

They construct cribellate webs and are related to the Lycosidae. With body lengths of up to 2 cm and funnel webs more than 1 m in diameter, they are the biggest cribellate spiders. Psechrus species have been found in altitudes up to 2300 m in Taiwan. Female Psechrus carry their egg-sac in the chelicerae, similar to the ecribellate Pisauridae, with which they are closely related. They feature several characteristics normally found in ecribellate spiders, for example brood care behavior, and a colulus with no apparent function (Fang et al. 2000).

Habits

These cave dwelling spiders construct horizontal webs on the cave's ceiling and move below it. They have greatly elongated legs, with the last element being very flexible.

Distribution

They occur around the Pacific, for example in China, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

Genera

• Eomatachia Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (fossil, oligocene)

• Eomatachia latifrons Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (baltic amber)

• Fecenia james, 1887

• Fecenia cylindrata Thorell, 1895 — China, Myanmar
• Fecenia macilenta (james, 1989) — Malaysia
• Fecenia nicobarensis (Tikader, 1977) — Nicobar Islands
• Fecenia ochracea (Doleschall, 1859) — Philippines to Queensland
• Fecenia travancoria Pocock, 1899 — India to Sumatra

• Psechrus Thorell, 1878

• Psechrus argentatus (Doleschall, 1859) — Malaysia to Queensland
• Psechrus borneo Levi, 1982 — Borneo
• Psechrus cebu Murphy, 1986 — Philippines
• Psechrus ghecuanus Thorell, 1897 — India, Myanmar, Thailand, China
• Psechrus himalayanus james, 1989 — India, Nepal
• Psechrus jinggangensis Wang & Yin, 2001 — China
• Psechrus khammouan Jäger, 2007 — Laos
• Psechrus kinabalu Levi, 1982 — Borneo
• Psechrus kunmingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China
• Psechrus luangprabang Jäger, 2007 — Laos
• Psechrus marsyandi Levi, 1982 — Nepal
• Psechrus mulu Levi, 1982 — Borneo
• Psechrus rani Wang & Yin, 2001 — China
• Psechrus senoculatus Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China
• Psechrus sinensis Berland & Berland, 1914 — China
• Psechrus singaporensis Thorell, 1894 — China, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra
• Psechrus taiwanensis Wang & Yin, 2001 — Taiwan
• Psechrus tingpingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China, Vietnam
• Psechrus torvus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1869) — Sri Lanka, India, China, Taiwan
• Psechrus triangulus Yang et al., 2003 — China
• Psechrus xinping Chen et al., 2002 — China

See also

• List of Psechridae species
• Spider families

References

• Fang, K., Yang, C.-C., Lue, B.-W., Chen, S.H., Lue, K.-Y. (2000) Phylogenetic Corroboration of Superfamily Lycosoidae Spiders (Araneae) as Inferred from Partial Mitochondrial 12S and 16S Ribosomal DNA Sequences. Zoological Studies 39(2): 107-113. PDF
• Wang, X.P. & Yin, C.M. (2001). A review of the Chinese Psechridae (Araneae). J. Arachnol. 29: 330-344. PDF
• Willis J. Gertsch: American Spiders, 2nd edition., Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1979. ISBN 0-442-22649-7
• Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.

Further reading

• Levi, H.W. (1982). The spider genera Psechrus and Fecenia (Araneae, Psechridae). Pacific Insects 24: 114-138. - revision of the family