Arangina species?

Fact Box Species: Arangina species? (Generic name as suggested by Dr. Robert Raven, Queensland Museum) Family: Dictynidae Body length: female: about 4 mm male: Unknown Habitat: This species is often found on the bark of trees with a small amount of cribellate webbing Toxicity: The toxicity of the venom of this spider is unknown

In its normal habitat Female from above Female from front Diagnostic features

Dictynids are recorded for most parts of the world and a map presented by the Atlas of Living Australia indicates they heve been found all over Australia. This being so, it is a surprising fact that there are almost no published photos of any Australian dictynid species, and at least in March 2019 the World Spider Catalog lists only two Callevophthalmus and one Sudesne species as being here. No photos of either of these appear to be available. On the other hand, there are internet images of overseas dictynid genera and these resemble the one shown above except that at least some of them only have six eyes. Species of the genus Arangina (as suggested by Arachnologist Dr Robert Raven for the spider presented on this page) are listed on the World Spider Catalog for New Zealand but not for Australia. This probably does not mean there are none here though because the fact that most dictynids are only 1-4 mm in body length is a likely reason for the limited information that is available about the Australian dictynids at the present time.

While the generic name shown above is uncertain, the listing of this species as a dictynid is not in doubt. As one of the illustrations shows, the characters that are considered to be diagnostic for a dictynid can all be seen on this spider, including the presence of an undivided cribellum, which is found on only a few spider families, most of them relatively obscure ones. It is unfortunate that it seems to be an immature female so no genitalia images are available. Some reference sources mention that a critically important character seen on a dictynid is an outwardly bowed appearance of the chelicerae when viewed from in front. This is not the case for the specimen in the above images but this is because it is an immature female and bowing of the chelicerae is a character normally only seen on male dictynids.

Spider(s) with a very similar appearance: Other dictynids and perhaps some members of a few less well studied families such as the Amaurobiidae.