(Family Dictynidae)
Overview • Description • Distribution • Taxonomy
Meshweavers are cribellate spiders, meaning that they have a cribellum, a specialized spinning organ in front of the spinnerets with thousands of tiny spigots. The cribellum emits extremely fine fibers, producing silk with a woolly texture that sticks to and entangles an insect’s legs. (According to BugGuide.net, not all Dictynidae are cribellate.) |
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Description |
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Meshweavers are small to medium-sized brown spiders. They can be 1⁄16″ to ⅝″ (2 to 15 mm) long in body length not including the legs, but in North America most are just ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ (3 to 5 mm) in length. The front part of the body (cephalothorax) is oval and long. The upper side of the cephalothorax (carapace) is pear-shaped when viewed from above. Most have eight eyes. Six of the eyes are light, two are dark. In the genus Lathys some species have just six eyes, some have eight eyes but with very small anterior median eyes (AME). The jaws (chelicerae) are relatively large, toothed, and sometimes bowed outwards. The abdomen is dull yellowish-brown or gray with dark markings. The legs are short. |
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Distribution |
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Sources |
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3/22/2023 | ||||
Taxonomy |
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Class | Arachnida (arachnids) | ||
Order |
Araneae (spiders) | ||
Suborder |
Araneomorphae (typical spiders) | ||
Infraorder | Entelegynae | ||
Superfamily |
Dictynoidea (meshweavers and allies) | ||
Subordinate Taxa |
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Genus Argenna Genus Brigittea Genus Dictyna Genus Emblyna Genus Lathys Genus Mallos (Mexican social spiders) Genus Nigma Genus Paradictyna Genus Phantyna |
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Synonyms |
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Common Names |
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meshweavers mesh web spiders |
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Glossary
Carapace
The hard, upper (dorsal), shell-like covering (exoskeleton) of the body or at least the thorax of many arthropods and of turtles and tortoises. On crustaceans, it covers the cephalothorax. On spiders, the top of the cephalothorax made from a series of fused sclerites.
Cephalothorax
The front part of the body of various arthropods, composed of the head region and the thoracic area fused together. Eyes, legs, and antennae are attached to this part.
Chelicerae
The pair of stout mouthparts, corresponding to jaws, in arachnids and other arthropods in the subphylum Chelicerata.
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Babette Kis |
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Don't know the genus of this meshweaver, which is about 2 1/2 mm long (body). |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Other Videos |
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Dictynidae Josh Coogler |
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About
May 17, 2016 |
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Meshweb weaver spinning cribellate silk Joseph T Lapp |
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About
Nov 4, 2016 This meshweb weaver (dictynidae) is spinning silk by holding one leg with the other and rapidly brushing that leg against her silk glands. The spider has a body length of 3mm and is an adult female. Video from 1:20 to 1:40 clearly shows how the spider is holding her legs to pull the silk. She's using a comb of setae (spider hairs) called a calamistrum on her leg to pull threads from a plate of spinnerets called a cribellum. I'm not sure what music I happened to be listening to -- I tuned to the "I'm feeling lucky station" on Google Music. I think the spider likes it. |
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Visitor Sightings |
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Babette Kis 7/2/2022 |
Location: Barnes Prairie Remnant, Racine Co., WI Don't know the genus of this meshweaver, which is about 2 1/2 mm long (body). |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
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Created: 3/22/2023
Last Updated: