Miturgidae

MiturgidaeMiturga

The Miturgids are group of medium to large spiders, commonly known as Prowling Spider or Racing Stripe Spiders. They are found living in open eucalyptus forest, semi-arid areas, and desert habitats across all Australian states and territories, including Lord Howe Island.

These spiders are described as

The cephalothorax is squared off at the front, and the fovea or central pit runs lengthways. Eight eyes in two row of 4, the back row wider, the front row slightly upcurved. The fairly large and longish jaws have two or three teeth on the outside, two on the inside. The abdomen is oval, or elongated. They are common in inland regions belonging to the superfamily Lycosoidea, somewhat resembling wolf spiders but without the distinctive Lycosid eye pattern.

Source: MITURGIDAE Prowling Hunters, Arachne.org.au

Cephalothorax is the fused head and thorax of spiders and other chelicerate arthropods (chelicerates being a group of arthropods whose characteristics include a body divided into a cephalothorax and abdomen).

Miturgidae is a family of araneomorph spiders with species found around the world.

The Araneomorphae are an infraorder of spiders. They are distinguishable by chelicerae that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae, where they point straight down. Araneomorphs comprise the vast majority of living spiders.

Source: Araneomorphae, Wikipedia

A Wolf Spider (Lycosa) and Miturgidae species on the on the outback tracks at night near Victoria Rocks, Western Australia.

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Subphylum: Chelicerata
• Class: Arachnida
• Order: Araneae
• Infraorder: Araneomorphae
• Family: Miturgidae
• Subfamily:
  • Diaprograptinae Raven, 2009
  • Miturginae Simon, 1886
• Genus:
  • Argoctenus L. Koch, 1878
  • Elassoctenus Simon, 1909
  • Hestimodema Simon, 1909
  • Miturga Thorell, 1870
  • Odo Keyserling, 1887
  • Odomasta Simon, 1909
  • Pacificana
  • Simonus Ritsema, 1881
  • Thasyraea L. Koch, 1878
  • Tuxoctenus Raven, 2008
  • Zealoctenus

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MiturgidaeMiturga

SpidersIndex of Spider Images Spiders in Australia Spiders Index Araneidae — Orb Weavers Spider sac Arkys Australian Huntsman Spider Barking Spider Black House Spider Carepalxis sp Celaenia sp Cosmophasis micarioides Crab Spiders Deinopidae — Net-casting Spiders Dolomedes sp Dolophones sp Euryopis umbilicata (Superb Ant-eater Spider) Flower Spiders Gnaphosidae (Stealthy Ground Spider) Hackled Orbweavers (Uloboridae) Helpis minitabunda (Bronze Hopper) Herennia sp Jewel Spider Jumping Spider Long Jawed Spider (Tetragnatha sp) Lynx Spider (Oxyopes) Mangrovia albida Maratus Missulena occatoria (Red-headed Mouse Spider) Molycria burwelli Mopsus mormon Nicodamidae (Red and Black Spider) Nyssus coloripes (Orange-legged Swift Spider) Ogre-faced Net-casting Spider Poltys sp (Twig Spider) Scorpion-tailed Spider (Arachnura higginsi) Redback Spider Miturgidae Salticidae Tetragnatha Thomisidae Tiger Spider (Trichonephila plumipes) White-spotted Swift Spider (Nyssus albopunctatus) Wolf Spider