Barychelidae
| Brushed-footed trap-door spiders | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sason robustum with nest | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: |
Barychelidae Simon, 1889 |
| Genera | |
|
See text. |
|
| Diversity | |
| 42 genera, c. 300 species | |
 |
|
See text.
Barychelidae is a spider family with about 300 species in 42 genera. Its members are known as brushed trapdoor spiders.
Most spiders in this family build trapdoor burrows. There are some species that avoid flooding by plugging their nests. Others can avoid drowning by trapping air bubbles within the hairs covering their bodies. Some members of this group have a rake on the front surface of their chelicerae used for compacting burrow walls.
The approximately 10 mm long Idioctis builds its about 5 cm deep burrow just below high tide level, and seals it with a thin trapdoor. The approximately 20 mm long Sipalolasma builds its burrow in rotted wood, with a hinged trapdoor at each end of the burrow.
Like the Theraphosidae (tarantulas), they can run up glass. Some species can stridulate. However, unlike stridulation in the theraphosid Selenocosmiinae, barychelid stridulation, based as it is on very weak lyra, is not audible to humans.
Barychelids are found in Australia, New Caledonia, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, New Guinea, and Pacific islands.
As of November 2015[update], the World Spider Catalog accepted the following genera:
...
Wikipedia