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
-
Rhianodes atratus
Barychelids are found in Australia, New Caledonia, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, New Guinea, and Pacific islands.[1]
Genera
-
Ozicrypta cooloola -
Seqocrypta jakara -
Trittame loki
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
- ^ a b c "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)