Deinopidae

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Family of spiders

title: "Deinopidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["deinopidae", "araneomorphae-families", "taxa-named-by-carl-ludwig-koch"] description: "Family of spiders" topic_path: "general/deinopidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinopidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of spiders ::

| name = Net-casting spiders | image = Deinopis subrufa 114289025.jpg | image_caption = Deinopis subrufa front view | image2 = Deinopis-and-web-taiwan.jpg | image2_caption = Deinopis sp. with web | fossil_range = | taxon = Deinopidae | authority = C. L. Koch, 1850 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = {{linked genus list |Asianopis|Lin & Li, 2020 |Deinopis|MacLeay, 1839 |Menneus|Simon, 1876}} | range_map = Deinopidae range map.svg | range_map_caption = blue: reported countries (WSC) green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist) | diversity = 3 genera, 71 species

Deinopidae, also known as net-casting spiders, are a family of circumtropical cribellate spiders first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850. They are of stick-like elongated spiders that catch prey by stretching a web across their front legs before propelling themselves forward. These unusual webs will stretch two or three times their relaxed size, entangling any prey that touch them.

The posterior median eyes have excellent night vision, allowing them to cast nets accurately in low-light conditions. These eyes are larger than the others, and sometimes makes these spiders appear to only have two eyes. Ogre-faced spiders (Deinopis) are the best known genus in this family. The name refers to the perceived physical similarity to the mythological creature of the same name. This family also includes the humped-back spiders (Menneus).

Distribution

They are distributed through tropics worldwide from Australia to Africa and the Americas.

In Florida, Deinopis often hangs upside down from a silk line under palmetto fronds during the day. At night, it emerges to practice its unusual prey capture method on invertebrate prey. Its eyes are able to gather available light more efficiently than the eyes of cats and owls, and are able to do this despite the lack of a reflective layer (tapetum lucidum); instead, each night, a large area of light-sensitive membrane is manufactured within the eyes, and since arachnid eyes do not have irises, it is rapidly destroyed again at dawn.

Genera

, this family includes three genera and 71 species:

Two genera formerly included in this family, Avella O. P-Cambridge, 1877 and Avellopsis Purcell, 1904, are now placed in Menneus.

File:Net-casting Spider - Deinopis longipes, Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, Belmopan, Belize.jpg|D. longipes casting a net File:Deinopidae egg sac.jpeg|Egg sac File:Cape camel-back spider (Menneus capensis) 4.jpg|Menneus capensis

References

References

  1. "Family Deinopidae C. L. Koch, 1850". World Spider Catalog.
  2. (2018-11-16). "How spiders see the world". [[Australian Museum]].
  3. Blest, A. D.. (1978). "The rapid synthesis and destruction of photoreceptor membrane by a dinopid spider: a daily cycle". Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
  4. (1991). "Systematics and Evolution of Spiders (Araneae)". Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst..
  5. Koch, C. L.. (1850). "Übersicht des Arachnidensystems".

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