Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
 

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Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Family Atypidae - Purseweb Spiders

Representative Images

Black spider - Sphodros niger Sphodros abboti Black and orange ground spider sp? - Sphodros rufipes Black Purseweb Spider - Sphodros niger unidentified spider - Sphodros Sphodros - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Mygalomorphs)
Family Atypidae (Purseweb Spiders)

Numbers

one Atypus, seven Sphodros

Identification

large forward-projecting chelicerae, long fangs


abdominal tergites


wide posterior median spinnerets with triangular tips

Range

Atypus karschi - Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania(1)

Sphodros regional endemics:
Sphodros abboti - southern Georgia, northern Florida
Sphodros coylei - South Carolina; Hoffman includes many records from Virginia
Sphodros fitchi - literature records from Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas (*new BG records from Iowa)
Sphodros paisano - southeastern Texas, adjacent Mexico

Sphodros widespread taxa:
Sphodros atlanticus - east-central US
Sphodros niger - northeastern US, north from Tennessee, east from Kansas
Sphodros rufipes - widespread in southeastern US, from eastern Texas

Maps for the more widespread species - S. atlanticus, S. niger & S. rufipes, can be found in Hoffmann (2010).

Print References

Coyle, F.A. and W.A. Shear. (1981) Observations on the natural history of Sphodros abboti and Sphodros rufipes (Araneae, Atypidae), with evidence for a contact sex pheromone. J. Arachnol.,9:317-326 (online PDF)

Gertsch, W. J. & Platnick, N. I. (1980). A revision of the American spiders of the family Atypidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae). American Museum Novitates 2704: 1-39. (online PDF)

Hoffman, R. L. (2010). Purse-web spiders, genus Sphodros, in Virginia (Mygalomorphae: Atypidae). Banisteria 36: 31-38. (online PDF)

Works Cited

1.Atypus karschi Dönitz, 1887 (Araneae: Atypidae): an Asian purse-web spider established in Pennsylvania, USA
Řezáč, M., Tessler, S., Heneberg, P., Herrera, I. M. A., Gloríková, N., Forman, M., Řezáčová, V. & Král, J. . 2022. PLoS One 17(7, e0261695): 1-21.
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 1:20pm
Additional contributions by Lynette Elliott, mhedin, Laura P.
Last updated 25 July, 2022 - 7:15am

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