Heptathela

Heptathela
Heptathela kimurai
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Mesothelae
Family: Liphistiidae
Genus: Heptathela
Kishida, 1923
Species

see text

Diversity
34 species

Heptathela is a genus of spiders that includes the Kimura spider (Heptathela kimurai). They are basal trapdoor spiders of the family Liphistiidae and are found in Japan, China, and Southeast Asia.

Females are up to 25 mm long, males slightly smaller. Burrows have an oval shaped door which is hinged across the long diameter.[1]

Name

The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek hepta "seven", referring to the number of spinneret glands.

Species

incomplete

Social Reference

This is the genus of spider referenced by Vincent Price in the introduction to Alice Cooper's The Black Widow on his Welcome to my Nightmare album.

Footnotes

  1. Murphy & Murphy 2000
  2. Schwendinger, P.J.; Ono, H. 2011: On two Heptathela species from southern Vietnam, with a discussion of copulatory organs and systematics of the Liphistiidae (Araneae: Mesothelae). Revue suisse de zoologie, 118(4): 599-637. abstract

References

Wikispecies has information related to: Heptathela
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