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Infraorder Mygalomorphae - Mygalomorphs

spider unknown - Cyclocosmia truncata - male Trapdoor/Cyrtaucheniid outed - Promyrmekiaphila clathrata Eucteniza - Eucteniza relata - female Spider - Euagrus chisoseus Tarantula on Marcus Landslide Trail - Aphonopelma chalcodes Black and orange ground spider sp? - Sphodros rufipes A touching tableau (what's going on here?) - Calisoga Adult male with silk retreat? - Antrodiaetus pacificus - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Mygalomorphs)
Numbers
over 2,500 spp. in 280 genera placed in 15 families worldwide(1)

8 mygalomorph families found in US + Canada
Identification
Distinguished from almost all North American araneomorphs by two pairs of booklungs (visible as "white patches" on ventral side of abdomen in live specimens).


Fangs and chelicerae are parallel to the body axis.

In North America, the only mygalomorphs that have claw tufts are the tarantulas (family Theraphosidae).
Remarks
Includes the tarantulas, represented by members of Family Theraphosidae. Other familiar members include the trapdoor spiders and purseweb spiders.
Print References
Bond et al 2012 A Reconsideration of the Classification of the Spider Infraorder Mygalomorphae (Arachnida: Araneae) Based on Three Nuclear Genes and Morphology (online PDF)