Atypidae

views updated

Atypidae (purse-web spiders; order Araneae, suborder Mygalomorphae) Family of spiders, all less than 3 cm long, which have three tarsal claws, six spinnerets, massive chelicerae, and two pairs of book lungs. New World species construct open silk tubes on the sides of trees; European species construct the tubes on the ground. In all cases, prey walking over the tube is impaled on the fangs and dragged through the purse web. The few species in this family may live for up to nine years.