Red and Black Spiders - Superfamily: Nicodamoidea
A small superfamily containing 2 families, 9 genera and 29 species, the Superfamily: Nicodamoidea is quite a new taxon having been established only in 2017 by Dimitrov et al. The same paper suggests there are two families in the Nicodamoidea. (Both of these were, since Harvey (1995), considered to be the two subfamilies in the Family: Nicodamidae but Dimitrov simply raised all three a level up.) One family, the Megadictynidae is endemic to New Zealand. and the other, the Nicodamidae, containing 27 species in 7 genera, are mostly endemic to Australia. Identification of the species has always been a difficult task and early scientists had a penchant to lump all together under a single name.
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Small to medium-sized, they are all strikingly beautiful spiders with a black abdomen, orange-red to deep red cephalothorax, and legs with bands in the same colours as the body. Despite the colour combination being similar to our Redbacks, they are not related even though they once were placed together in the same family.
In the Northern Rivers, seven species from four genera may be found. They may be seen underneath leaves or rocks or, in the 'fairly sturdy' sheet web they construct close to the ground. In summer, males wander about in search of a mate which sometimes brings them indoors. The females produce rather woolly-looking egg sacs which they suspend from the web. |
These spiders tend to sit underneath their web and the web itself is connected to the ground in similar fashion to that of Theridid spiders. Nicodamids too, anchor their webs using sticky gum-foot lines - under tension - that let go from the ground once touched by a crawling insect, propelling the hapless victim into the web itself. Apart from insects, other spiders and even members of the same species are on the menu as well.
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Taxonomy:
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
> Subphylum: Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
> Class: Arachnida (Arachnids)
> Order: Aranea (Spiders)
> Suborder: Araneomorphae (Typical Spiders)
> Infraorder: Entelegynea (Entelegyne Spiders)
> Superfamily: Nicodamoidea (Red and Black Spiders and Allies)
> Family: Nicodamidae (Red and Black Spiders)
> Genus: Ambicodamus
> Species: A. audax *
> Species: A. emu ^
> Species: A. sororius ^
> Species: A. urbanus
> Genus: Dimidamus
> Species: D. dimidiatus
> Genus: Nicodamus
> Species: N. peregrinus
> Genus: Oncodamus
> Species: O. decipiens
* = likely
^ = possible
References and links:
> Dimitrov, D., Benavides, L.R., Arnedo, M.A., Giribet, G., Griswold, C E., Scharff, N. and Hormiga, G., (2017). 'Rounding up the usual suspects: a standard target-gene approach for resolving the interfamilial phylogenetic relationships of ecribellate orb-weaving spiders with a new family-rank classification (Araneae, Araneoidea).' Cladistics 33(3): 221-250 & Suppl. doi:10.1111/cla.12165
> Harvey, M.S., (1995). 'The systematics of the spider family Nicodamidae (Araneae: Amaurobioidea).' Invertebrate Taxonomy 9(2): 279-386. doi:10.1071/IT9950279
> Simon, E., (1897). 'Description d'arachnides nouveaux.' Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 41: 8-17.
https://www.bentleyonline.com.au/pc/RedandBlack.htm
https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/NICODAMIDAE
https://esperancewildlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/red-and-black-spider-nicodamidae.html
> Dimitrov, D., Benavides, L.R., Arnedo, M.A., Giribet, G., Griswold, C E., Scharff, N. and Hormiga, G., (2017). 'Rounding up the usual suspects: a standard target-gene approach for resolving the interfamilial phylogenetic relationships of ecribellate orb-weaving spiders with a new family-rank classification (Araneae, Araneoidea).' Cladistics 33(3): 221-250 & Suppl. doi:10.1111/cla.12165
> Harvey, M.S., (1995). 'The systematics of the spider family Nicodamidae (Araneae: Amaurobioidea).' Invertebrate Taxonomy 9(2): 279-386. doi:10.1071/IT9950279
> Simon, E., (1897). 'Description d'arachnides nouveaux.' Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 41: 8-17.
https://www.bentleyonline.com.au/pc/RedandBlack.htm
https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/NICODAMIDAE
https://esperancewildlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/red-and-black-spider-nicodamidae.html
Text:
Erik Beringen.
Erik Beringen.
Photographic contributions: