Nephilengys facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nephilengys |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Subfamily: | Nephilinae |
| Genus: | Nephilengys L. Koch, 1872 |
| Type species | |
| Epeira malabarensis Walckenaer, 1841
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| Species | |
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See text. |
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| Diversity | |
| 2 species | |
Nephilengys is a group of tropical spiders. They are also known as hermit spiders because they hide in their special retreats during the day. There are two known species of Nephilengys spiders. These spiders belong to the Araneidae family, which means they build round, wheel-shaped webs.
Contents
About Nephilengys Spiders
Female Nephilengys spiders are quite large, usually 10 to 28 millimeters long. Males are much smaller, only about 3 to 6 millimeters long. The front part of their body, called the prosoma (where the head and chest are joined), is wide and tall. Their body covering, or carapace, has strong, upright spines. The edges of this carapace are lined with long, white hairs.
Spider Habits and Webs
Nephilengys spiders are often found near people's homes. This is called being synanthropic. They build their webs against surfaces like tree trunks or walls. These webs can be as big as one meter across!
A special feature of their webs is a tube-shaped hideout. The spiders use this retreat to escape when they feel threatened. This hideout is always built against a hard surface. Young spiders build webs that are quite even. But adult spiders build their web's center very close to the top edge. Unlike many other orb-web spiders, Nephilengys spiders don't rebuild their whole web if it gets damaged. Instead, they just fix the broken parts.
These spiders are nocturnal. This means they spend most of the day hidden in their retreat. At night, they come out to the center of their web.
Life Cycle and Reproduction
As mentioned, female Nephilengys spiders are much bigger than the males. For example, in the species N. malabariensis, females can be 20 millimeters long, while males are only 4 millimeters.
Adult male spiders do not build their own webs. Instead, they live with females. Sometimes, several males can be found in the web of one female. Because they don't build webs, they don't have the glands that make sticky silk. Males often mate with a female right after she has shed her skin. At this time, her body is soft, so she cannot resist. After mating, males sometimes leave parts of their mating organs behind. They may continue to live in the female's web.
Spider Classification
The genus Nephilengys was first named in 1872 by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch. He included four species in this group. One of them was Epeira malabarensis, which was first described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1842.
Koch said that Nephilengys spiders were very similar to Nephila spiders in their body shape. However, they differed in where their eyes were placed and how long their legs were. The name Nephilengys means "near to Nephila". It comes from Nephila and the Ancient Greek word -engy-, meaning "near to" or "close to".
Over the years, scientists have changed how they classify these spiders. For a long time, Nephilengys was placed in a group called Nephilinae, which was part of the Araneidae family. Later, some studies suggested they belonged to a different family, Tetragnathidae, or even their own family, Nephilidae. However, more recent studies, especially those looking at spider DNA, have shown that these spiders truly belong back in the Araneidae family.
In 2013, scientists split the original Nephilengys genus into two groups. Two species stayed in Nephilengys. The other four species were moved to a new genus called Nephilingis. Scientists can tell Nephilengys and Nephilingis apart by the shapes of the female's epigynum and the male's palpal bulb.
Known Species
As of May 2017, the World Spider Catalog lists these species:
- Nephilengys malabarensis (Walckenaer, 1842) – Found from India to China, Philippines, Japan, and Ambon.
- Nephilengys papuana Thorell, 1881 – Found in New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.
Where They Live
Nephilengys spiders live in tropical parts of Asia, from India all the way to Indonesia. They are also found in Queensland, Australia.
Who Eats Them
N. malabarensis spiders can be hunted by a spider-eating jumping spider called Portia. When touched, at least some Nephilengys species will shake their bodies very fast.
See also
In Spanish: Nephilengys para niños
