Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

Museums

Regional Maps

Family ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895

Introduction

The Araneidae include the most conspicuous of spiders in that they are the builders of large, often circular, webs into which we often inadvertently stumble at night. They also include genera like the Triangular Spider (genus Arkys) that hunt freely at night on Acacia trees, and the spectacular Bolas spiders (genus Ordgarius) that spin a drop of scented silk to attract their prey. The boundaries of the family are in contention.

 

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Araneidae: Acacesia tenella (L. Koch, 1871) [previously listed as Wixia tenella, transferred by Framenau et al (2009)] — Framenau, V.W., Scharff, N. & Levi, H.W. 2009. Not from “Down Under”: new synonymies and combinations for orb-weaving spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) erroneously reported from Australia. Zootaxa 2073: 22-30 [23]

Araneidae: Lipocrea diluta Thorell, 1887 — Framenau, V.W. & Scharff, N. 2008. The orb-weaving spider genus Larinia in Australia (Araneae: Araneidae). Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny 66(2): 227-250 [243] (Larinia delicata was revalidated by Framenau & Scharff (2008), who also transferred L. tabida; thereby removing all Australian taxa from the genus Lipocrea)

 

Diagnosis

Araneids have thick serrated bristles (accessory claws) below the claws of legs, a rebordered labium, and a complex male palpal bulb with a paracymbium.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
15-Nov-2024 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
06-Mar-2023 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 17-Oct-2024 MODIFIED
28-Sep-2022 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
16-Jun-2022 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
22-Feb-2022 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
01-Jun-2021 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 ARANEAE 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
06-May-2020 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
05-Feb-2020 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED Lyn Randall
31-Jul-2019 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 ARANEOMORPHAE 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 ARANEOMORPHAE 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
22-Jul-2015 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
11-Mar-2015 ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 ARANEOMORPHAE 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED Dr Federica Turco Jurgen Otto
15-Oct-2020 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
15-Oct-2020 15-Nov-2024 MODIFIED
12-Feb-2010 (import)