Artoriinae

Artoriinae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Family: Lycosidae
Subfamily: Artoriinae
Genera

See text.

Diversity
10 genera

The Artoriinae are a subfamily of wolf spiders. They are the sister group to the Lycosinae and Pardosinae combined.[1]

Characteristics

Artoriinae are distinguished from all other Lycosidae by the presence of a basoembolic (at the base of the embolus) apophysis on the male pedipalp. This apophysis can be thin and lamellar, as in some Diahogna and Tetralycosa, very strongly sclerotized, as in Artoria, or may have a finger-like protrusion, as in Anoteropsis. The function during copulation is not known.[1]

Distribution

Artoriinae only occur in the Oriental, Australasian and Pacific regions, and have a center of diversity in Australia and New Zealand.[1] According to Framenau (2007), the Australian diversity, combined with the absonce from South America, Africa and India suggest a post-Gondwanan origin, that is less than 60 million years ago.

Taxonomy

Currently there are three African species of Artoria.[2] A. amoena and A. maculipes were described under genus Artoriella by Carl Friedrich Roewer, who also moved A. lycosimorpha and the Australian A. cingulipes, A. flavimana and A. taeniifera there. As the type species of Artoriella, A. flavimana belongs to Artoria, the whole genus is now considered a junior synonym of Artoria. However, based on Roewer's descriptions, the African Artoria are more likely to belong to genus Pardosa or a related genus. Until a revision of these species is undertaken, these African species will technically reside in Artoria.

Genera

Two as yet unnamed genera with sixteen known species also belong to this subfamily.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 Framenau 2007
  2. Platnick 2008

References

See also


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/27/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.