Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa

Calendar

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

Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Prowling Spiders (Miturgidae)

Family Miturgidae - Prowling Spiders

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)

Class Arachnida (Arachnids)

Order Araneae (Spiders)

Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)

No Taxon (Entelegynae)

Family Miturgidae (Prowling Spiders)

Pronunciation

mih-TUR-jih-dee

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

These spiders were originally placed in Clubionidae, as group Miturgeae of the subfamily Liocranidae. The group was elevated to family status by Lehtinen 1967. (1)

Zora was transferred from Zoridae to Miturgidae, Cheiracanthium and Strotarchus were transferred out of Miturgidae to the new family Eutichuridae by Ramírez, 2014.(2)(3)

Numbers

3 genera of 8 described species in BugGuide's range (North America north of Mexico)

Range

Syspira:

S. analytica - Baja California to New Mexico (according to this NMSU website)

S. eclectica (=longipes) - southwestern United States

S. pallida - southwestern United States

S. tigrina (=synthetica) - southwestern United States

Teminius:

T. affinis - Oklahoma, Texas, & Louisiana

T. insularis - Florida, at least the Greater Antilles (Cuba to the Virgin Islands), and most of tropical South America

Zora:

Z. hespera - western North America from southern BC to ID and south to CA and AZ.(1)

Z. pumila - eastern United States from eastern KS to MA and south to eastern TX and FL.(1)

Print References

The morphology and phylogeny of dionychan spiders

By Ramírez, Martín J.

Internet References

World Spider Catalog (2014). World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, version 15.5, accessed on 11/11/2014(3)

Works Cited

1.	Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual D. Ubick, P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing and V. Roth (eds). 2005. American Arachnological Society.

2.	The morphology and phylogeny of dionychan spiders Ramírez, Martín J. 2014. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.

3.	World Spider Catalog

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 10 September, 2004 - 10:29pm
Additional contributions by Lynette Elliott, Jay Barnes, Mandy Howe, Laura P.
Last updated 11 November, 2014 - 11:29am

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Printer Friendly Version