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Harpactea

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This article is about genus of spiders. For the bird genus, see Harpactes.

Harpactea
Temporal range: Palaeogene–present
H. hombergi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Dysderidae
Genus: Harpactea
Bristowe, 1939[1]
Type species
Dysdera latreillei Blackwall, 1832, syn. of Harpactea hombergi[1]
Species

188, see text.

Synonyms[1][2]

Harpactea is a genus in the family Dysderidae (woodlouse hunting spiders). Harpactea is a replacement name published by W. S. Bristowe in 1939 for the unavailable name "Harpactes" published by R. Templeton in 1835, which had already been used for a genus of birds.[2] They are non-web building predators that forage on the ground and on tree trunks at night, mainly in xerothermic forests. During the day, they hide in silk retreats they build under rocks or bark.[3]

H. sadistica was found to use traumatic insemination, the arthropod behavior of directly inserting its sperm into the body cavity of females. It is the first time it has ever been observed in spiders.[4]

Description

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Like all woodlouse hunters, Harpactea have six eyes. The type species, H. hombergi, can grow up to a body length of 6 millimetres (0.24 in). Males and females are similar, but the female has no epigyne.[5]

Like the rest of their family, they are nocturnal. Unlike them, Harpactea do not specialize on hunting woodlice. H. rubicunda also hunts Drassodes and other spiders, but most Harpactea feed on insects in addition to woodlice.

Taxonomy

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In 1835, the name "Harpactes" was published by R. Templeton for a taxon split off from the related genus Dysdera.[1][6] Subsequent authors used this genus name for many years, but when published, Harpactes had already been used for a bird genus, so it was not available. Accordingly, in 1939, W. S. Bristowe published the replacement name Harpactea.[1][2] The type species is Dysdera latreillei, synonym "Harpactes" latreillei, now accepted as a synonym of Harpactea hombergi.[1]

Templeton did not explain his choice of genus name,[6] but Greek ἁρπακτής, harpaktēs, means 'snatcher', 'plunderer', 'pillager' or 'thief'.[7]

Species

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Almost all species of this genus appear to be endemic to small regions of the Mediterranean.[3] As of April 2024, the World Spider Catalog accepted 213 species from Europe and Northern Africa to Turkmenistan and Iran:[1]

Harpactea rubicunda

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Gen. Harpactea Bristowe, 1939". World Spider Catalog Version 22.5. Natural History Museum Bern. 2022. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Bristowe, W.S. (1939). The comity of spiders. Vol. 1. London: Ray Society.. p. 5.
  3. ^ a b Řezáč, M. (2008). "Description of Harpactea sadistica n. sp. (Araneae: Dysderidae)—a haplogyne spider with reduced female genitalia". Zootaxa. 1698: 65–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1698.1.5.
  4. ^ Řezáč, M. (2009). "The spider Harpactea sadistica: co-evolution of traumatic insemination and complex female genital morphology in spiders". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 276 (1668): 2697–2701. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0104. hdl:2445/161996. PMC 2839943. PMID 19403531.
  5. ^ Roberts, Michael J. (1985). The Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 62. ISBN 90-04-07658-1.
  6. ^ a b Templeton, R. (1835). "On the spiders of the genus Dysdera Latr. with the description of a new allied genus". The Zoological Journal. 5: 400–408.
  7. ^ "Results for: αρπαχτής". Portal for the greek language. Centre for the Greek Language. Retrieved 2024-11-16.

Further reading

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