Barychelidae
| Brushed-footed trap-door spiders Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sason colemani from Australia | |
 | |
| Sason robustum with nest | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Clade: | Avicularioidea |
| Family: | Barychelidae Simon, 1889 |
| Diversity | |
| 39 genera, 294 species | |
 | |
| blue: reported countries (WSC) green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist) | |
Barychelidae, also known as brushed trapdoor spiders, is a spider family with about 300 species in 39 genera.[1]
Behaviour
Trittame loki in burrow
closed burrow
Most spiders in this family build trapdoor burrows. For example, the 20 millimetres (0.79 in) long Sipalolasma builds its burrow in rotted wood, with a hinged trapdoor at each end. The 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long Idioctis builds its burrow approximately 5 centimetres (2.0 in) deep, just below the high tide level, sealing the opening with a thin trapdoor.[2]
Some species avoid flooding by plugging their burrows, while others can avoid drowning by trapping air bubbles within the hairs covering their bodies.[3] Some members of this group have a rake on the front surface of their chelicerae used for compacting burrow walls.[4] These spiders can run up glass like tarantulas, and some can stridulate, though it isn't audible to humans.[5]
Distribution
Barychelids are found in Australia, New Caledonia, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, New Guinea, and Pacific islands.[1]
Genera
As of January 2026, this family includes 39 genera and 294 species:[1]
- Adelonychia Walsh, 1890 – India, Sri Lanka
- Ammonius Thorell, 1899 – Cameroon, Ivory Coast
- Atrophothele Pocock, 1903 – Yemen
- Aurecocrypta Raven, 1994 – Australia
- Barycheloides Raven, 1994 – New Caledonia
- Barychelus Simon, 1889 – New Caledonia
- Cosmopelma Simon, 1889 – Brazil
- Cyphonisia Simon, 1889 – Africa
- Encyocrypta Simon, 1889 – New Caledonia
- Eubrachycercus Pocock, 1897 – Somalia
- Fijocrypta Raven, 1994 – Fiji
- Idioctis L. Koch, 1874 – Madagascar, Mayotte, Seychelles, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Caroline Islands
- Idiommata Ausserer, 1871 – Australia
- Idiophthalma O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877 – South America
- Mandjelia Raven, 1994 – Australia, New Caledonia
- Monodontium Kulczyński, 1908 – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea
- Moruga Raven, 1994 – Australia
- Natgeogia Raven, 1994 – New Caledonia
- Neodiplothele Mello-Leitão, 1917 – Brazil
- Nihoa Raven & Churchill, 1992 – Hawaii, Melanesia, Palau Islands
- Orstom Raven, 1994 – New Caledonia
- Ozicrypta Raven, 1994 – Australia
- Paracenobiopelma Feio, 1952 – Brazil, Ecuador
- Pisenor Simon, 1889 – Africa
- Plagiobothrus Karsch, 1892 – Sri Lanka
- Questocrypta Raven, 1994 – New Caledonia
- Rhianodes Raven, 1985 – Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore
- Sason Simon, 1887 – Seychelles, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands
- Sasonichus Pocock, 1900 – India
- Seqocrypta Raven, 1994 – Australia
- Sipalolasma Simon, 1892 – Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka
- Strophaeus Ausserer, 1875 – Panama, South America
- Synothele Simon, 1908 – Australia
- Tigidia Simon, 1892 – Madagascar, Mauritius, India
- Trittame L. Koch, 1874 – Australia
- Troglothele Fage, 1929 – Cuba
- Tungari Raven, 1994 – Australia
- Zophorame Raven, 1990 – Australia
- Zophoryctes Simon, 1902 – Madagascar
References
- 1 2 3 "Family Barychelidae Simon, 1889". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2026-01-18.
- ↑ Murphy, Frances; Murphy, John (2000). An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Nature Society.
- ↑ Bristowe, W.S. (September 1930). "XXXIV.— Notes on the biology of spiders .—II. Aquatic spiders". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6 (33): 343–347. doi:10.1080/00222933008673222. ISSN 0374-5481.
- ↑ Levi, Herbert W.; Levi, Lorna R. Spiders and Their Kin. p. 20.
- ↑ Raven, R.J. (1994). "Mygalomorph spiders of the Barychelidae in Australia and the Western Pacific". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 35 (2): 291–706.
- Raven, R.J. (1986): A revision of the spider genus Sason Simon (Sasoninae, Barychelidae, Mygalomorphae) and its historical biogeography. Journal of Arachnology 14: 47–70. PDF Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Valerio, CE. (1986): Mygalomorph spiders in the Barychelidae (Araneae) from Costa Rica. J. Arachnol. 14: 93–99. PDF Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (Psalistops venadensis, Trichopelma laselva)
- Schwendinger, P.J. (2003): Two new species of the arboreal trapdoor spider genus Sason (Araneae, Barychelidae) from Southeast Asia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 51(2): 197–207. PDF Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine (S. sundaicum, S. andamanicum)