Nursery web spider
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Nursery web spider
Pisaura mirabilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Superfamily: Lycosoidea Family: Pisauridae Simon, 1890
Diversity
52 genera, 328 species
Genera
Dolomedes Nukuhiva Pisaura Pisaurina Thalassius  many more

Nursery web spiders are spiders of the family Pisauridae. They resemble wolf spiders (family Lycosidae), but they carry their egg sacs by means of their jaws and pedipalps (instead of attaching them to their spinnerets). When the eggs are about to hatch, a mother spider will build a nursery "tent," put her egg sac inside, and mount guard outside. The name nursery web spider is especially given to the European species Pisaura mirabilis, but the family also includes fishing spiders and raft spiders.

Dolomedes fimbriatus with its nursery full of baby spiders

Unlike the wolf spiders, which have two very prominent eyes in addition to the other six, the eyes of the nursery web spiders are more or less the same size.¹ Many species are able to walk on the surface of still bodies of water, and may even dive beneath the surface for a time to escape enemies. In escaping predators, they may very well jump a distance of five or six inches. However, they do not find it easy to make their way up extremely smooth surfaces such as glass. The female spider will sometimes attempt to eat the male after mating. The male, to reduce the risk of this, will often present the female with a gift such as a fly when approaching in the hope that this will satisfy her hunger.

Systematics

The categorization into subfamilies follows Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog.

• Pisaurinae Simon, 1890

• Afropisaura Blandin, 1976
• Architis Simon, 1898
• Caripetella Strand, 1928
• Charminus Thorell, 1899
• Chiasmopes Pavesi, 1883
• Cispius Simon, 1898
• Cladycnis Simon, 1898
• Dendrolycosa Doleschall, 1859
• Euprosthenops Pocock, 1897
• Euprosthenopsis Blandin, 1974
• Eurychoera Thorell, 1897
• Maypacius Simon, 1898
• Paracladycnis Blandin, 1979
• Perenethis L. Koch, 1878
• Phalaeops Roewer, 1955
• Pisaura Simon, 1885
• Pisaurina Simon, 1898
• Polyboea Thorell, 1895
• Ransonia Blandin, 1979
• Rothus Simon, 1898
• Staberius Simon, 1898
• Stoliczka O. P.-Cambridge, 1885
• Tetragonophthalma Karsch, 1878
• Thalassiopsis Roewer, 1955
• Voraptipus Roewer, 1955
• Vuattouxia Blandin, 1979
• Walrencea Blandin, 1979

• Thalassiinae

• Archipirata Simon, 1898
• Dolomedes Latreille, 1804
• Eucamptopus Pocock, 1900
• Hesydrimorpha Strand, 1911
• Ilipula Simon, 1903
• Megadolomedes Davies & Raven, 1980
• Nukuhiva Berland, 1935
• Papakula Strand, 1911
• Thalassius Simon, 1885
• Thaumasia Perty, 1833
• Tinus F. O. P.-Cambridge, 1901

• incertae sedis

• Bradystichus Simon, 1884
• Campostichommides Strand, 1911
• Cispinilus Roewer, 1955
• Conakrya Schmidt, 1956
• Dianpisaura Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2004
• Eopisaurella Petrunkevitch, 1958 † (fossil)
• Esuritor Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (fossil)
• Hygropoda Thorell, 1894
• Hypsithylla Simon, 1903
• Inola Davies, 1982
• Nilus O. P.-Cambridge, 1876
• Qianlingula Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2004
• Tallonia Simon, 1889
• Tapinothele Simon, 1898
• Tapinothelella Strand, 1909
• Tapinothelops Roewer, 1955

References

Wikispecies has information related to:

Pisauridae

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Pisauridae

1. ^ Sierwald, P. (1997) Phylogenetic analysis of Pisaurine nursery web spiders, with revisions of Tetragonophthalma and Perenethis (Araneae, Lycosidae, Pisauridae). The Journal of Arachnology 25:361-407 [1]

See also

• List of Pisauridae species
• Spider families