Myrmekiaphila
| Myrmekiaphila | |
|---|---|
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| Myrmekiaphila tigris | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Family: | Euctenizidae |
| Genus: |
Myrmekiaphila Atkinson, 1886 |
| Type species | |
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Myrmekiaphila foliata Atkinson, 1886 |
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| Species | |
|
see text |
|
| Diversity | |
| 11 species | |
 |
|
see text
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Wikipedia