Cheiracanthium
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| Yellow sac spider | |
|---|---|
| File:Cheiracanthium furculatum 299515879 539603322.jpg | |
| Female C. furculatum | |
| File:Long-legged Sac Spider - Cheiracanthium sp., Pateros, Washington.jpg | |
| Cheiracanthium sp., Pateros, Washington | |
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Cheiracanthiidae |
| Genus: | Cheiracanthium C. L. Koch, 1839[1] |
| Type species | |
| C. punctorium (Villers, 1789)
| |
| Species | |
|
212, see text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Cheiracanthium, commonly called yellow sac spiders, is a genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Cheiracanthiidae, and was first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1839.[4]
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C. danieli
Distribution
[edit | edit source]Cheiracanthium is primarily an Old World genus, with many species found from northern Europe to Japan, from Southern Africa to India and Australia. The only known species in the New World are C. inclusum and C. mildei. While the former also occurs in Africa and Réunion, the latter is found in the Holarctic region and Argentina. They can also be found in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada.[1]
The genus is quite diverse in Africa and at least three or four species are known to occur in Egyptian cotton fields alone.[1]
Description
[edit | edit source]
a) claws
b) tarsus
c) metatarsus
d) tibia
e) patella
f) femur
g) trochanter
h) coxa
i) pedipalp
k) setae
m) prosoma (cephalothorax)
n) opisthosoma (abdomen)
o) spinnerets
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The eye arrangement of spiders in the genus Cheiracanthium
They are usually pale in colour, and have an abdomen that can range from yellow to beige. Both sexes range in size from 5 to 10 millimetres (0.20 to 0.39 in).
They are unique among common house spiders because their tarsi do not point either outward, like members of Tegenaria, or inward, like members of Araneus, making them easier to identify.
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Misconceptions
[edit | edit source]A theory that these spiders were attracted to the smell of gasoline was involved in a series of consumer vehicle callbacks in which spiderwebs had blocked fuel lines, but it has since been disproven by a study which found that the juvenile yellow sac spiders were attracted to the hose material itself.[5]
Venom
[edit | edit source]Though they are beneficial predators in agricultural fields, they are also known to be mildly venomous to humans. Painful bites may be incurred from species such as C. punctorium in Europe, C. mildei in Europe and North America, C. inclusum in the Americas, C. lawrencei in South Africa and C. japonicum in Japan.[6] Cheiracanthium venom is purportedly necrotic, and can cause pain, swelling, and lesions in humans,[6] but the necrotic nature and severity of its bite has been disputed.[7] A study of twenty confirmed Cheiracanthium bites in the United States and Australia found that none resulted in necrosis, and a review of the international literature on 39 verified Cheiracanthium bites found only one case of mild necrosis in the European species C. punctorium.[7]
Species
[edit | edit source]-
female C. aculeatum
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C. inclusum
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C. inclusum
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C. punctorium
As of October 2025[update], the World Spider Catalog accepts 231 species, found in the Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe, Central America, Africa, Asia, North America, and on Saint Helena:[1]
These are species with articles on Wikipedia:[1]
- Cheiracanthium abbreviatum Simon, 1878 – France, Denmark
- Cheiracanthium aculeatum Simon, 1884 – Ivory Coast, Sudan, Somalia, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa
- Cheiracanthium africanum Lessert, 1921 – Africa, Madagascar, Réunion
- Cheiracanthium angolense Lotz, 2007 – Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa
- Cheiracanthium angulitarse Simon, 1878 – Spain, France (Corsica), Italy, Malta, Hungary, Romania
- Cheiracanthium annulipes O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872 – Canary Islands, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel
- Cheiracanthium antungense Chen & Huang, 2012 – Taiwan
- Cheiracanthium campestre Lohmander, 1944 – Sweden, Denmark, Central Europe, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, Russia (Europe)
- Cheiracanthium dippenaarae Lotz, 2007 – South Africa
- Cheiracanthium effossum Herman, 1879 – Central to eastern Europe
- Cheiracanthium elegans Thorell, 1875 – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to South Siberia), Kazakhstan, Iran, Central Asia
- Cheiracanthium erraticum (Walckenaer, 1802) – Azores, Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Iran, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan
- Cheiracanthium eutittha Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 – Taiwan, Japan, Korea?
- Cheiracanthium falcatum Chen, Huang, Chen & Wang, 2006 – Taiwan
- Cheiracanthium filiapophysium Chen & Huang, 2012 – Taiwan
- Cheiracanthium foordi Lotz, 2015 – South Africa
- Cheiracanthium fulvotestaceum Simon, 1878 – France
- Cheiracanthium furculatum Karsch, 1879 – Cape Verde, Africa, Madagascar, Comoros
- Cheiracanthium gratum Kulczyński, 1897 – Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia (Europe), Kazakhstan
- Cheiracanthium ienisteai Sterghiu, 1985 – Romania, Albania
- Cheiracanthium incertum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869 – Sri Lanka
- Cheiracanthium inclusum (Hentz, 1847) – North America, Central America, Caribbean, South America. Introduced to Réunion
- Cheiracanthium indicum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – India, Sri Lanka
- Cheiracanthium insigne O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 – India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, China, Taiwan
- Cheiracanthium insulanum (Thorell, 1878) – Indonesia (Moluccas: Ambon)
- Cheiracanthium insulare L. Koch, 1866 – Samoa
- Cheiracanthium insulare (Vinson, 1863) – Madagascar, Réunion
- Cheiracanthium margaritae Sterghiu, 1985 – Romania
- Cheiracanthium mildei L. Koch, 1864 – Azores, Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Middle East, Caucasus, Russia, (Europe). Introduced to North America, Argentina
- Cheiracanthium minshullae Lotz, 2007 – Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa
- Cheiracanthium occidentale L. Koch, 1882 – Spain (Minorca), Italy
- Cheiracanthium oncognathum Thorell, 1871 – Europe
- Cheiracanthium pennatum Simon, 1878 – Southern Europe, Romania
- Cheiracanthium punctorium (Villers, 1789) – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to South Siberia), Iran, Central Asia (type species)
- Cheiracanthium salsicola Simon, 1932 – France
- Cheiracanthium schenkeli Caporiacco, 1949 – Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa
- Cheiracanthium shiluvanense Lotz, 2007 – South Africa
- Cheiracanthium taiwanicum Chen, Huang, Chen & Wang, 2006 – China, Taiwan
- Cheiracanthium taprobanense Strand, 1907 – Sri Lanka
- Cheiracanthium torsivum Chen & Huang, 2012 – Taiwan
- Cheiracanthium vansoni Lawrence, 1936 – Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa
Complete species list as of October 2025[update]
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See also
[edit | edit source]References
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Further reading
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