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.
- 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
Footnote & References
- Miturgidae, Photographs © Jean and Fred Hort
- MITURGIDAE Prowling Hunters, Arachne.org.au, https://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1703
- A Field Guide to the Spiders of Australia, by Robert Whyte and Greg Anderson, https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/6899/
- Miturgidae Simon, 1889, Racing Stripe Spiders, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/072ce68b-9a9b-413c-abdd-69b09250a70a
- Prowling Spiders (Family Miturgidae), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/61867-Miturgidae
- Miturgidae Prowling Hunters, Arachne.org.au, https://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1703
- Miturgidae – Miturga species, 2 March 2009, Esperance Fauna, https://esperancewildlife.blogspot.com/2009/03/miturgidae-miturga-species.html
- Miturgidae, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miturgidae
- Araneomorphae, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araneomorphae
MiturgidaeMiturga
SpidersIndex of Spider Images Spiders in Australia Araneidae — Orb Weavers Arkys Australian Huntsman Spider Barking Spider Black House Spider Carepalxis sp Celaenia sp Crab Spiders Deinopidae — Net-casting Spiders Dolomedes sp Dolophones sp Flower Spiders Hackled Orbweavers (Uloboridae) Jewel Spider Jumping Spider Long Jawed Spider (Tetragnatha sp) Lynx Spider (Oxyopes) Mangrovia albida Maratus volans Missulena occatoria (Red-headed Mouse Spider) Miturgidae Nicodamidae (Red and Black Spider) Ogre-faced Net-casting Spider Poltys sp (Twig Spider) Redback Spider Scorpion-tailed Spider (Arachnura higginsi) Thomisidae Tiger Spider (Trichonephila plumipes) White-spotted Swift Spider (Nyssus albopunctatus) Wolf Spider