Family ARCHAEIDAE C.L. Koch & Berendt, 1854

Museums

Regional Maps

• Rix, M.G. & Harvey, M.S. 2012. Australasian Assassins, Part II. A review of the new assassin spider genus Zephyrarchaea (Araneae: Archaeidae). ZooKeys 19: 1-62 [Date published 7 May 2012] [6]

Introduction

This remarkable family of spiders, resembling Pelicans in profile, were first found as fossils in Baltic Amber. Later, they were found alive and well in South Africa, Western Australia and highly diverse in eastern Australia. They have since been found as fossils in Siberia in the Jurassic. Their very long chelicerae contrast with the very short fangs which apparently are used to spear their prey from a safe distance.

Diagnosis

Small, 3-clawed, haplogyne spiders with extremely long chelicerae, the bases of which are separated from the rest of the mouthparts by a neck-like extension of the carapace. Fang is less than one quarter the length of a chelicera. A row of long rod-like peg teeth on distal promargin of chelicera. Anterior book-lungs; two minute posterior spiracles, well in advance of spinnerets, each leading to a single abdominal tracheal tube. Colulus absent. Patella I conspicuously long. One trichobothrium on metatarsi, none on tarsi. Onychium present. Abdomen-petiole stridulating system. Austrarchaea is found in rainforest, often in moss on tree trunks where it enters webs and preys on other spiders.

History of changes