Hexathelidae
The Hexathelidae is the only family in the superfamily Hexatheloidea. Some members of this family spiders are dangerous to humans.
Description
These spiders are relatively large and have a length between 10 and 50 millimeters. The body is typically three times as long as wide. They are dark colored, the color can range from dark brown to black. The spinnerets are very long and look like little legs and eyes are sitting together on a hill eyes (these two features are on all bird spider-like spiders identical).
Like all animals of the Mygalomorphae they have downward chelicerae. Their venom depot is located in the Arachnids for relatively large and strong chelicerae. They bite through fingernails easily.
Habitat
Most spiders of Hexathelidae occur in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The type Macrothele calpeiana occurs in North Africa and Spain, two types there are in South America and two more live in Central Africa.
The members of this family typically live in self-dug burrows or knotholes. The entrance to the cave is usually always worked itself. The spiders make a transition, they spin out with power. This behavior occurs in other bird arachnids also. Due to the size of the spider, this spiderweb lined tubes are very noticeable. This is the reason why they are called in the English language "funnel -web spiders". ( "funnel " for funnel and "web" for network). The caves are mainly found in natural rock. You therefore can also come in the near houses, where they find suitable niches in gardens or at the wall. They are nocturnal.
Toxicity
There are three genera that are dangerous for humans. Best known Atrax is found in Australia and the islands of the South Pacific with the sole representative Atrax robustus and the genus Hadronyche. The third genus is Macrothele where some species are considered toxic. These occur mainly in Taiwan and in the eastern parts of Asia.
Genera
- Atrax O. P. - Cambridge, 1877
- Bymainiella Raven, 1978
- Hadronyche L. Koch, 1873
- Mediothele Raven & Platnick, 1978
- Paraembolides Raven, 1980
- Plesiothele Raven, 1978
- Porrhothele Simon, 1892
- Scotinoecus Simon, 1892
- Teranodes Raven, 1985
Swell
- Find-a - spider guide
- Raven, R. J. & Platnick, N.I. (1978). A new genus of the spider family Dipluridae from Chile (Araneae, Mygalomorphae ). J. Arachnol. 6:73-77. PDF ( Mediothele, now in Hexathelidae )
- Eugène Simon, 1892: Histoire naturelle of araignées. Paris, 1: 1-256.