Zodarioid Spiders - Superfamily: Zodarioidea
The Zodarioidea are a large superfamily of 1277 species as of December 2023. It contains two families, one of a mere 9 species in a single genus endemic to South Africa, the other, the Zodariidae, a family of 7 subfamilies containg the remainder of the species within 89 genera of which 11 unplaced. The Zodariidae, or Ant Spiders, are small to medium-sized spiders many of which resemble ants or termites and who feed exclusively on them. They family was first named by the Swedish arachnologist, Tamerlan Thorell in 1881. To date the family remains under-studied and a lot of spiders in collections that are likely to belong somewhere within it still to be described and named. Australia has more than its' fair share of Zodariid Spiders with at least 257 species recorded but this number is likely to grow, to about 400, over time.
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The Zodariids appear to be a relative newcomer with the oldest fossil evidence of the family found in amber from the Baltic region dated at up to 38 My old. Those species that do not resemble ants are generally robustly built with large bulbous abdomens and shortish thick legs. A variety of dark, earthy colours are common but overall black tends to dominate in keeping with their ant-like appearance. A number of species have a whitish or yellow arrangement of dots on the abdomen. Whereas there are some that hunt at night, most prefer to be active during the day which is of course, when their main food source, ants, is active as well. In general, the Zodarioidea are found worldwide in temperate to tropical parts. They are not found in the coldest nor the hottest areas of the globe. Despite their global distribution, most species are localised.
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Since the late 80's the Family: Zodariidae has more than doubled thanks largely to the work of three people; the Belgian arachnologist Rudy Jocque and the German entomologists/arachnologists Barbara Baehr and Martin Baehr. Barbara Baehr described more than 400 spider species, mostly from Australia. Since January 2000 she held a position as a research fellow at the Queensland Museum where she spent much of her time working on the taxonomy of the Zodariidae among other spider families.
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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: Zodarioidea (Zodarioid Spiders)
> Family: Zodariidae (Ant Spiders and Allies)
> Unplaced Genera in the Family: Zodariidae
> Genus: Nosterella
> Species: N. nadgee
> Subfamily: Cryptothelinae
> Genus: Cryptothele
> Species: C. doreyana
> Subfamily: Storeninae
> Genus: Asteron
> Species: A. grayi
> Genus: Euasteron
> Species: E. enterprise
> Species: E. milledgei
> Species: E. monteithorum
> Genus: Habronestes
> Species: H. bradleyi
> Species: E. grahami
> Species: E. grayi
> Species: E. grimwadei
> Species: E. hunti - Nine-dotted Ground Spider
> Species: E. macedonensis
> Species: E. minor ^
> Species: E. pictus
> Species: E. raveni
> Species: E. weelahensis
> Genus: Hetaerica
> Species: H. scenica
> Genus: Holasteron
> Species: H. acicular
> Genus: Mosasteron
> Species: M. bipunctatum ^
> Genus: Neostorena
> Species: N. minor
> Genus: Nostera
> Species: N. lynx
> Species: N. spinata
> Genus: Pentasteron
> Species: P. isobelae
> Species: P. simplex - Simple Ant Spider
> Genus: Storena
> Species: S. cyanea *
> Species: S. formosa ^
> Species: S. mainae
> Species: S. rotunda
> Genus: Storosa
> Species: S. obscura
> Genus: Subasteron
> Species: S. davieae - Davies' Ant Spider
> Genus: Zillimata
> Species: Z. scintillans
* = likely
^ = possibly
References and links:
> Baehr, B., (2003). 'Three new endemic genera of the Asteron-complex (Araneae: Zodariidae) from Australia: Basasteron, Euasteron, and Spinasteron.' Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 49: 1-27.
> Jocqué, R., (1991). 'A generic revision of the spider family Zodariidae (Araneae).' Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 201: 1-160.
> Thorell, T., (1881). 'Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani. III. Ragni dell'Austro Malesia e del Capo York, conservati nel Museo civico di storia naturale di Genova.' Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 17: 1-720.
https://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1664
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Baehr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Baehr
https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Jocqu%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamerlan_Thorell
https://wsc.nmbe.ch/family/109/Zodariidae
> Baehr, B., (2003). 'Three new endemic genera of the Asteron-complex (Araneae: Zodariidae) from Australia: Basasteron, Euasteron, and Spinasteron.' Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 49: 1-27.
> Jocqué, R., (1991). 'A generic revision of the spider family Zodariidae (Araneae).' Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 201: 1-160.
> Thorell, T., (1881). 'Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani. III. Ragni dell'Austro Malesia e del Capo York, conservati nel Museo civico di storia naturale di Genova.' Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 17: 1-720.
https://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1664
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Baehr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Baehr
https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Jocqu%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamerlan_Thorell
https://wsc.nmbe.ch/family/109/Zodariidae
Author(s):
Erik Beringen.
Erik Beringen.
Photographic contributions: