Tetragnatha

Tetragnatha
Temporal range: Palaeogene– Present
female T. extensa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Tetragnathidae
Genus: Tetragnatha
Latreille, 1804[1]
Type species
T. extensa
Species

320, see text

Synonyms[1]
  • Arundognatha Wiehle, 1963[2]
  • Eucta Simon, 1881[2]
  • Prionolaema Simon, 1894[3]

Tetragnatha is a genus of long-jawed orb-weavers found all over the world. It was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804,[4] and it contains hundreds of species. Most occur in the tropics and subtropics, and many can run over water. They are commonly called stretch spiders in reference to their elongated body form and their ability to hide on blades of grass or similar elongated substrates by stretching their front legs forward and the others behind them. The name Tetragnatha is derived from Greek, tetra- a numerical prefix referring to four and gnatha meaning "jaw". Evolution to cursorial behavior occurred long ago in a few different species, the most studied being those found on the Hawaiian islands.[5] One of the biggest and most common species is T. extensa, which has a holarctic distribution. It can be found near lakes, river banks or swamps.[6] Large numbers of individuals can often be found in reeds, tall grass, and around minor trees and shrubs.

Tetragnatha species are hard to separate from each other without a microscope to scrutinize the genitalia of a mature individual.[7] Hawaiian Tetragnatha appear to distinguish each other via highly specific chemical compounds in their silk. These chemical differences are especially prominent amongst sympatric and closely-related species. This may constitute a form of chemical species recognition.[8]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference NMBE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Levi, H. W. (1981). "The American orb-weaver genera Dolichognatha and Tetragnatha north of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae, Tetragnathinae)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 149: 282.
  3. ^ Dimitrov, D.; Álvarez-Padilla, F.; Hormiga, G. (2008). "Until dirt do us apart: On the unremarkable palp morphology of the spider Sternospina concretipalpis Schmidt & Krause, 1993, with comments on the genus Prionolaema Simon, 1894 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae)". Zootaxa. 1698: 51. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1698.1.3.
  4. ^ Latreille, P. A. (1804). "Tableau methodique des Insectes". Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 24: 129–295.
  5. ^ Casquet, Juliane; Bourgeois, Yann X. C.; Cruaud, Corinne; Gavory, Frédérick; Gillespie, Rosemary G.; Thébaud, Christophe (2015). "Community assembly on remote islands: a comparison of Hawaiian and Mascarene spiders". Journal of Biogeography. 42 (1): 39–50. doi:10.1111/jbi.12391. ISSN 1365-2699. S2CID 83565719.
  6. ^ Hänggi, Ambros; Stöckli, Edi; Nentwig, Wolfgang (1995). Lebensräume Mitteleuropäischer Spinnen. Miscellanea Faunistica Helvetiae – Centre suisse de cartographie de la faune, Neuchatel. ISBN 2-88414-008-5.
  7. ^ "Tetragnatha montana". NatureSpot. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  8. ^ Adams, Seira A.; Gurajapu, Anjali; Qiang, Albert; Gerbaulet, Moritz; Schulz, Stefan; Tsutsui, Neil D.; Ramirez, Santiago R.; Gillespie, Rosemary G. (10 April 2024). "Chemical species recognition in an adaptive radiation of Hawaiian Tetragnatha spiders (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 291 (2020). doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.2340. PMC 11003775.