Family SEGESTRIIDAE Simon, 1893
Compiler and date details
Valerie Todd Davies (including the Lycosidae by R.J. McKay), Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Introduction
Medium to large, 3-clawed, haplogyne spiders with six eyes. Pair of tracheal spiracles just behind book-lungs (trachea to cephalothorax). Colulus present. Long abdomen sometimes with chevron pattern. The spiders have a cylindrical shape and porrect chelicerae; both adaptations to life in a burrow. Unlike the lycosids and other burrowing 3-clawed spiders the segestriids have the third pair of legs directed forwards. The common Australian genus, Ariadna, lives in insect holes in tree trunks and branches. The holes are lined with silk and about a dozen short trip-lines radiate from the opening.