Myrmekiaphila

Myrmekiaphila is a genus of trapdoor spiders in the family Euctenizidae. All described species are endemic to the southeastern United States. The genus was transferred from the Ctenizidae by Raven in 1985. M. flavipes was transferred from genus Aptostichus in 2007.

Description

The known species of this genus resemble each other in appearance and behavior. The carapace is 2.8 to 8 mm long and 2.25 to 6.81 mm wide. Females are uniformly colored, with some dusky stripes on the dorsum of the abdomen. Colors range from yellowish red to dark reddish brown. The palpal tibia of the males are modified in a way that distinguishes them from other mygalomorph spiders of North America. The first legs in males are modified as mating claspers.

Biology

All members live in subterranean, silk-lined burrows that are covered by a silken-soil trap door. Some species construct side chambers that can be closed off by secondary trap doors, a feature that is unique among Cyrtaucheniidae. While the related Promyrmekiaphila and Aptostichus also build side chambers, they do not close them with trap doors.

Distribution

The genus is endemic to the southeastern United States, where it ranges from northern Virginia along the Appalachian Mountains southward through West Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and northern Georgia into the Southeastern Plain of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

They are found in a wide variety of habitats, including temperate deciduous forest in relatively high altitudes and dry climates in central Texas.

Systematics

The Euctenizinae were promoted from Cyrtaucheniidae subfamily to family in 2012.

Myrmekiaphila appears as the sister group to all southwestern Euctenizidae with the exception of Apomastus, which in turn is the sister group to all euctenizines.

Name

Genus describer Atkinson collected his specimens while hunting for ants, and found Myrmekiaphila always in close proximity to ant nests. Hence he gave the genus this name, derived from Ancient Greek myrmex "ant" and philein "to love", with the meaning "fond of ant nests".

Species

Three species groups are currently recognized. These are only intended to facilitate identification based on the male palp; it is not known if they represent monophyletic taxa. M. flavipes is only known from females and thus not grouped.

foliata group
Myrmekiaphila comstocki Bishop & Crosby, 1926
Myrmekiaphila coreyi Bond & Platnick, 2007
Myrmekiaphila foliata Atkinson, 1886
Myrmekiaphila tigris Bond et al., 2012
fluviatilis group
Myrmekiaphila fluviatilis (Hentz, 1850)
Myrmekiaphila howelli Bond & Platnick, 2007
Myrmekiaphila jenkinsi Bond & Platnick, 2007
Myrmekiaphila millerae Bond & Platnick, 2007
Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi Bond & Platnick, 2007
Myrmekiaphila torreya Gertsch & Wallace, 1936
minuta group
Myrmekiaphila minuta Bond & Platnick, 2007
unplaced species
Myrmekiaphila flavipes (Petrunkevitch, 1925)
^
^ Bond, Jason, Chris Hamilton, Nicole Garrison, Charles Ray. 2012. Phylogenetic reconsideration of Myrmekiaphila systematics with a description of the new trapdoor spider species Myrmekiaphila tigris (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Cyrtaucheniidae, Euctenizinae) from Auburn, Alabama. ZooKeys 190 (2012): 95-109.

source - Wikipedia
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