Pirate spider
| Pirate spiders Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Female Ero aphana | |
| Female Mimetus ryukyus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Mimetidae Simon, 1881 |
| Genera | |
|
See text. | |
| Diversity | |
| 8 genera, 166 species | |
| blue: reported countries (WSC) green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist) | |
Pirate spiders, members of the family Mimetidae, are araneomorph spiders which typically feed on other spiders.
The family Mimetidae contains roughly 200 species divided among 12 genera, of which Mimetus and Ero are the most common. Mimetids are usually yellow and brown and are usually 3 to 7 millimetres (1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in) long. Mimetids can be recognized by the rows of spine-like hairs on their long front legs; the rows consist of a long spine, followed by a series of progressively shorter ones.