Armored Spiders

Tetrablemmidae, sometimes called armored spiders, is a family of tropical araneomorph spiders first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1873.^[1] It contains 126 described species in 29 genera from southeast Asia, with a few that occur in Africa and Central and South America.^[2] Pacullidae was incorporated into this family in 1981,^[3] but was later restored as a separate family in a 2016 phylogenetic study.^[4]

Most species have been collected from litter and soil, including that of epiphytes. Some live in caves and show typical adaptations of cave spiders, such as loss of eyes and weak sclerotization.^[5][6] Members of Tetrablemma only have four eyes,^[1] a trait in spiders only found in these and certain members of Caponiidae.

Genera

Brignoliella patmae

As of April 2019, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera:^[2]

Extinct genera

• †Balticoblemma Wunderlich 2004 Bitterfeld, Baltic amber, Eocene
• †Bicornoculus Wunderlich 2015 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Brignoliblemma Wunderlich 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Cymbioblemma Wunderlich 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Electroblemma Selden et al. 2016 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Eogamasomorpha Wunderlich 2008 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Longissithorax Wunderlich 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Longithorax Wunderlich 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Palpalpaculla Wunderlich 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Saetosoma Wunderlich 2012 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Uniscutosoma Wunderlich 2015 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian

See also

• List of Tetrablemmidae species

References