
Cork-lid Trapdoor Spiders
Ctenizidae
Ctenizidae ( tə-NIZZ-ə-dee) is a small family of mygalomorph spiders that construct burrows with a cork-like trapdoor made of soil, vegetation, and silk. They may be called trapdoor spiders, as are other, similar species, such as those of the families Liphistiidae, Barychelidae, and Cyrtaucheniidae, and some species in the Idiopidae and Nemesiidae. The name comes from the distinctive behavior of the spiders to construct trapdoors, and ambush prey from beneath them.
In 2018, the family Halonoproctidae was split off from the Ctenizidae. A further genus, Stasimopus, was split off into its own family, Stasimopidae, in 2020. The family currently consists of two genera and five species.
2 branches of this family, most-observed first
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Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ctenizidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 57327.

