Archaeidae ( assassin spiders )

The Archaeidae are a spider family with 25 described species in three genera. Commonly known as assassin spiders, they are also known as pelican spiders, stemming from their specialised anatomy: they have elongated chelicerae (jaws) and necks for catching other spiders.

Distribution

Archaeidae occur in South Africa, Madagascar and Australia.

Assassin spiders

Assassin spiders, also known as the Spidsnuck, are a group of spiders of the families Archaeidae and Mecysmaucheniidae, which are extremely unusual in that they have "necks", which can be very long and slender, or short and fat. Archaeids prey only upon other spiders, while mecysmaucheniids seem to be generalists. Assassin spiders were first known from 40 million year old amber fossils which were found in Europe in the 1840s, and were not known to have living varieties until 1881, when the first living assassin spider was found in Madagascar. They are native to Australia, South Africa, and Madagascar, with the sister family Mecysmaucheniidae occurring in Southern South America and New Zealand. They range in size from 2-8 mm.

The fossil record of this family was first identified from Baltic amber dating to the Eocene, although many taxa from these deposits have been reassigned to Mecysmaucheniidae, Pararchaeidae, and Holarchaeidae. Currently valid Baltic species include Archaea levigata and Archaea paradoxa. In 2003, Afarchaea grimaldii was described from Cretaceous Burmese amber aged between 88-95 million years, extending the record of this group considerably.

Species

Archaeinae
Afrarchaea Forster & Platnick, 1984
Afrarchaea bergae Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
Afrarchaea entabeniensis Lotz, 2003 — South Africa
Afrarchaea fernkloofensis Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
Afrarchaea fisheri Lotz, 2003 — Madagascar
Afrarchaea godfreyi (Hewitt, 1919) — South Africa, Madagascar
†Afrarchaea grimaldii (Penney, 2003) — Burma
Afrarchaea haddadi Lotz, 2006 — South Africa
Afrarchaea harveyi Lotz, 2003 — South Africa
Afrarchaea kranskopensis Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
Afrarchaea lawrencei Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
Afrarchaea mahariraensis Lotz, 2003 — Madagascar
Afrarchaea ngomensis Lotz, 1996 — South Africa
Afrarchaea royalensis Lotz, 2006 — South Africa
Afrarchaea woodae Lotz, 2006 — South Africa

Austrarchaea griswoldi from Eungella National Park, Australia
Austrarchaea Forster & Platnick, 1984
Austrarchaea daviesae Forster & Platnick, 1984 — Queensland
Austrarchaea hickmani (Butler, 1929) — Victoria (regarded as a dubious name)
Austrarchaea griswoldi Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea hoskini Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea karenae Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea nodosa (Forster, 1956) — Queensland
Austrarchaea tealei Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea thompsoni Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea wallacei Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea westi Rix & Harvey, 2012
Austrarchaea woodae Rix & Harvey, 2012
Eriauchenius O. P.-Cambridge, 1881
Eriauchenius bourgini (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius cornutus (Lotz, 2003) — South Africa
Eriauchenius gracilicollis (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius jeanneli (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius legendrei (Platnick, 1991) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius pauliani (Legendre, 1970) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius ratsirarsoni (Lotz, 2003) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius tsingyensis (Lotz, 2003) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius vadoni (Millot, 1948) — Madagascar
Eriauchenius workmani O. P.-Cambridge, 1881 — Madagascar

Zephyrarchaea mainae from Bremer Bay, Western Australia
Zephyrarchaea Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea austini Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea barrettae Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea grayi Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea janineae Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea mainae (Platnick, 1991) — Western Australia
Zephyrarchaea marae Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea marki Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea melindae Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea porchi Rix & Harvey, 2012
Zephyrarchaea robinsi (Harvey, 2002) — Western Australia
Zephyrarchaea vichickmani Rix & Harvey, 2012


†Jurarchaea zherikhini Eskov, 1987 was previously considered a member of this family, but it is more likely a holarchaeid or a pararchaeid.
^ a b Rix, Michael; Harvey, Mark (2012). "Australian Assassins, Part II: A review of the new assassin spider genus Zephyrarchaea (Araneae, Archaeidae) from southern Australia". ZooKeys. 191: 1–62. doi:10.3897/zookeys.191.3070.

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