Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Deinopidae

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Kingdom
  
Animalia

Order
  
Araneae

Superfamily
  
Deinopoidea

Length
  
Deinopis subrufa: 2.5 cm

Rank
  
Family

Phylum
  
Arthropoda

Suborder
  
Araneomorphae

Scientific name
  
Deinopidae

Higher classification
  
Deinopoidea

Deinopidae ednieuwhomexs4allnlaustralianDeinopidaeDeino

Clutch size
  
Deinopis subrufa: 100 – 200

Similar
  
Intertidal spider, Anapidae, Amphinectidae, Gallieniellidae, Cyatholipidae

Spider spotlight net caster deinopidae


The spider family Deinopidae consists of stick-like elongate spiders that build unusual webs that they suspend between the front legs. When prey approaches, the spider will stretch the net to two or three times its relaxed size and propel itself onto the prey, entangling it in the web. Because of this, they are also called net-casting spiders. Their excellent night-vision adapted posterior median eyes allow them to cast this net over potential prey items. These eyes are so large in comparison to the other six eyes that the spider seems to have only two eyes.

Contents

Deinopidae Ogre faced Netcasting spider Deinopidae AMAZING INSECTS

The genus Deinopis is the best known in this family. Spiders in this genus are also called ogre-faced spiders, due to the imagined similarity between their appearance and that of the mythological creature, the ogre. They are distributed nearly worldwide in the tropics, from Australia to Africa and the Americas. In Florida, Deinopis often hangs upside-down from a silk line under palmetto fronds during the day. It emerges at night to practice its unusual prey capture method on invertebrate prey. Its eyes are able to gather available light more efficiently than the eyes of cats and owls, and are able to do this despite the lack of a tapetum lucidum; instead, each night a large area of light sensitive membrane is manufactured within the eyes, and since arachnid eyes do not have irises, it is rapidly destroyed again at dawn.

Deinopidae Netcasting spider Deinopidae with prey Photo from Udzun Flickr

The genus Menneus is also known as "humped-back spider".

The entire family is cribellate.

Genera

  • Deinopis Macleay, 1839 (on every continent, except Europe and Antarctica)
  • Menneus Simon, 1876 (Australia, Africa)

  • Deinopidae The Hunting Techniques of the NetCasting or Ogre Faced Spider

    Two genera formerly included in this family, Avella O. P-Cambridge, 1877 and Avellopsis Purcell, 1904, are now placed in Menneus.

    Deinopidae Deinopidae Flickr

    Deinopidae The net casting spider is part of the family Deinopidae

    Deinopidae IMG8954 copy Deinopidae Ogre faced spider net casting s Flickr

    Deinopidae NetCasting Spider Deinopidae DSC6127 sgmacroblogspo Flickr

    Deinopidae

    References

    Deinopidae Wikipedia