| | The spider families of Britain and Ireland |
Ghost Spiders.
Morphology. The adult spiders 2.5–6.5 mm long; of medium build; decidedly short-legged; with eight eyes. The eyes ostensibly in three rows of 4+2+2, the anterior row of four more or less recurved (comprising a front row of four, in which the median pair are larger than the laterals, with the two pairs behind of equal size and forming a trapezium). The palpal organs of the male of complex structure and enclosed by the specialized, hollowed tarsal segment (the cymbium). Metatarsus IV of the females without a calamistrum. Tarsal claws 2. The tarsi with claw tufts. The abdomen conspicuously patterned dorsally. The abdomen of the females without a cribellum. The reproductive openings of the females associated with an epigyne.
The adults not making snare-webs; actively pursuing their prey (often found during the day on low vegetation). The females not carrying egg sacs.
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 4 species in Britain; in the genus Zora.
Illustrations. • Zora spinimana. Zora spinimana (Sund.): a, female; b, male; c, eyes; d, maxillae and labium; e, claw; f, palp of male. From Blackwall (1861).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. The spider families of Britain and Ireland. Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
