Nursery web spider

Nursery web spider
Pisaura mirabilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Pisauridae Simon, 1890
subfamilies and genera
See text.
Diversity
52 genera, 328 species

Megadolomedes australianus with a dragonfly as prey

Nursery web spiders are spiders of the family Pisauridae. They resemble wolf spiders (family Lycosidae), but they carry their egg sacs by means of their jaws and pedipalps (instead of attaching them to their spinnerets). When the eggs are about to hatch, a mother spider will build a nursery "tent", put her egg sac inside and mount guard outside. The name nursery web spider is especially given to the European species Pisaura mirabilis, but the family also includes fishing spiders and raft spiders.

Unlike the wolf spiders, which have two very prominent eyes in addition to the other six, the eyes of the nursery web spiders are more or less the same size. Many species are able to walk on the surface of still bodies of water, and may even dive beneath the surface for a time to escape enemies. In escaping predators, they may very well jump a distance of five or six inches. However, they do not find it easy to make their way up extremely smooth surfaces such as glass. The female spider will sometimes attempt to eat the male after mating. The male, to reduce the risk of this, will often present the female with a gift such as a fly when approaching in the hope that this will satisfy her hunger, and sometimes this gift is a fake present intended to fool the female.

Taxonomy

Family Pisauridae

• Subfamily Pisaurinae Simon, 1890
  • Afropisaura Blandin, 1976
  • Architis Simon, 1898
  • Caripetella Strand, 1928
  • Charminus Thorell, 1899
  • Chiasmopes Pavesi, 1883
  • Cispius Simon, 1898
  • Cladycnis Simon, 1898
  • Dendrolycosa Doleschall, 1859
  • Euprosthenops Pocock, 1897
  • Euprosthenopsis Blandin, 1974
  • Maypacius Simon, 1898
  • Paracladycnis Blandin, 1979
  • Perenethis L. Koch, 1878
  • Phalaeops Roewer, 1955
  • Pisaura Simon, 1885
  • Pisaurina Simon, 1898
  • Polyboea Thorell, 1895
  • Ransonia Blandin, 1979
  • Rothus Simon, 1898
  • Stoliczka O. P.-Cambridge, 1885
  • Tetragonophthalma Karsch, 1878
  • Thalassiopsis Roewer, 1955
  • Voraptipus Roewer, 1955
  • Vuattouxia Blandin, 1979
  • WalrenceaBlandin, 1979
    

    Dolomedes fimbriatus with its nursery of babies
• Subfamily Thalassiinae
  • Archipirata Simon, 1898
  • Dolomedes Latreille, 1804
  • Eucamptopus Pocock, 1900
  • Ilipula Simon, 1903
  • Megadolomedes Davies & Raven, 1980
  • Nilus O. P.-Cambridge, 1876
  • Nukuhiva Berland, 1935
  • Papakula Strand, 1911
  • Thaumasia Perty, 1833
  • Tinus F. O. P.-Cambridge, 1901
    

    Nursery web spider carrying egg sac
• Subfamily incertae sedis
  • Bradystichus Simon, 1884
  • Campostichommides Strand, 1911
  • Cispinilus Roewer, 1955
  • Conakrya Schmidt, 1956
  • †Eopisaurella Petrunkevitch, 1958 (Early Eocene; Baltic amber)
  • †Esuritor Petrunkevitch, 1942 (Early Eocene; Baltic amber)
  • Hygropoda Thorell, 1894
  • Inola Davies, 1982
  • †Palaeoperenethis Seldon & Penney, 2009 (Ypresian, British Columbia, Canada)
  • Qianlingula Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2004
  • Sphedanus Thorell, 1877
  • Tallonia Simon, 1889
  • Tapinothele Simon, 1898
  • Tapinothelella Strand, 1909
  • Tapinothelops Roewer, 1955

See also

• List of Pisauridae species
• Spider families