The Psechridae are a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s with about two dozen species in two living genera.

They construct cribellate webs and are related to the Lycosidae. With body lengths of up to 2 cm and funnel webs more than 1 m in diameter, they are the biggest cribellate spiders. Psechrus species have been found in altitudes up to 2300 m in Taiwan. Female Psechrus carry their egg-sac in the chelicerae

Chelicerae

The chelicerae are mouthparts of the Chelicerata, an arthropod subphylum that includes arachnids, Merostomata , and Pycnogonida . Chelicerae are pointed appendages which are used to grasp food, and are found in place of the chewing mandibles most other arthropods have...

, similar to the ecribellate Pisauridae, with which they are closely related. They feature several characteristics normally found in ecribellate spiders, for example brood care behavior, and a colulus with no apparent function (Fang et al. 2000).

Habits

These cave dwelling spiders construct horizontal webs on the cave's ceiling and move below it. They have greatly elongated legs, with the last element being very flexible.

Distribution

They occur around the Pacific, for example in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

.

Genera

• Eomatachia Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (fossil, oligocene
  Oligocene
  The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
  
  )
• Eomatachia latifrons Petrunkevitch, 1942 † (baltic amber)

• Fecenia james
  Eugene James
  Eugene James was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.Born in Louisville, Kentucky, James was a very promising young jockey who began racing in 1930 at age seventeen. According to TIME magazine, he "made a sensation" in his first season of racing...
  
  , 1887
• Fecenia cylindrata Thorell, 1895 — China, Myanmar
• Fecenia macilenta (james, 1989) — Malaysia
• Fecenia nicobarensis (Tikader, 1977) — Nicobar Islands
• Fecenia ochracea (Doleschall, 1859) — Philippines to Queensland
• Fecenia travancoria Pocock, 1899 — India to Sumatra

• Psechrus Thorell
  Tamerlan Thorell
  Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell was a Swedish arachnologist.Thorell studied spiders with Giacomo Doria at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale de Genoa...
  
  , 1878
• Psechrus argentatus (Doleschall, 1859) — Malaysia to Queensland
• Psechrus borneo Levi, 1982 — Borneo
• Psechrus cebu Murphy, 1986 — Philippines
• Psechrus ghecuanus Thorell, 1897 — India, Myanmar, Thailand, China
• Psechrus himalayanus james, 1989 — India, Nepal
• Psechrus jinggangensis Wang & Yin, 2001 — China
• Psechrus khammouan Jäger, 2007 — Laos
• Psechrus kinabalu Levi, 1982 — Borneo
• Psechrus kunmingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China
• Psechrus luangprabang Jäger, 2007 — Laos
• Psechrus marsyandi Levi, 1982 — Nepal
• Psechrus mulu Levi, 1982 — Borneo
• Psechrus rani Wang & Yin, 2001 — China
• Psechrus senoculatus Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China
• Psechrus sinensis Berland & Berland, 1914 — China
• Psechrus singaporensis Thorell, 1894 — China, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra
• Psechrus taiwanensis Wang & Yin, 2001 — Taiwan
• Psechrus tingpingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 — China, Vietnam
• Psechrus torvus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1869) — Sri Lanka, India, China, Taiwan
• Psechrus triangulus Yang et al., 2003 — China
• Psechrus xinping Chen et al., 2002 — China

Further reading

• Levi, H.W. (1982). The spider genera Psechrus and Fecenia (Araneae, Psechridae). Pacific Insects 24: 114-138. - revision of the family