Myrmecotypus

Myrmecotypus
M. rettenmeyeri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Corinnidae
Genus: Myrmecotypus
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894
Type species
M. fuliginosus
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894
Species

14, see text

Myrmecotypus is a genus of ant mimicking corinnid sac spiders first described by O. Pickard-Cambridge in 1894. Species mainly occur from Panama to Mexico, with one species found in the United States, and one in Argentina.

M. rettenmeyeri, named after entomologist Carl Rettenmeyer, has an unusual longitudinal band of black hairs extending along the midline of the cephalothorax, enhancing its resemblance to Camponotus sericeiventris, an ant it shares a habitat with. The black hairs correspond to the solid longitudinal keel-like dorsal extensions of the posterior sections of the ant's thorax.

Species

As of January 2022 it contains fourteen species in North, Central, and South America:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gloor, Daniel; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Blick, Theo; Kropf, Christian (2022). "Gen. Myrmecotypus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894". World Spider Catalog Version 22.5. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Pickard-Cambridge, O. (1894), "Arachnida. Araneida", Biologia Centrali-Americana, Zoology
  3. ↑ Reiskind, J. (1965). "The Taxonomic Problem of Sexual Dimorphism in Spiders and a Synonymy in Myrmecotypus (Araneae, Clubionidae)". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 72 (4): 279–281. doi:10.1155/1965/17894.