Ogre-faced spider
Encyclopedia : O : OG : OGR : Ogre-faced spider
The Ogre-faced spider (family Deinopidae) consist of stick-like elongate spiders that build unusual webs that they suspend between the front legs. They then hover over the ground, and ensnare a passing insect. They are so named due to the similarity between their appearance and that of the mythological creature, the ogre. Their excellent night-vision adapted posterior median eyes allow them to cast this net over potential prey items. These eyes are so large in comparison to the other six eyes that the spider seems to have only two eyes. The genus Dinopis is the best known of the genera. It is distributed nearly worldwide in the tropics, from Australia to Africa and the Americas. In Florida, Dinopis often hangs upside-down from a silk line under palmetto fronds during the day. It emerges at night to practice its unusual prey capture method.
Genera
- Avella O. P-Cambridge, 1877 (Australia)
- Avellopsis Purcell, 1904 (South Africa)
- Deinopis Macleay, 1839 (on every continent)
- Menneus Simon, 1876 (Africa)
See also
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.