The spider family Anapidae (ground orbweavers) includes 154 species (Platnick 2013). Two species of these very small spiders are reported from North America. One of these, Gertschanapis shantzi, is known only from humid forests of Oregon and California, where it spins small horizontal orb webs, with radii emerging from the flat plane, in spaces within the leaf litter, among fern fronds, in rotting wood near the ground, and in similar locations. This species is rarely encountered, but can be locally common. The other putative North American representative, Comaroma mendocino, is known from a single berlese leaf litter sample from California and Coddington (2005) has suggested that it does not belong in the Palearctic anapid genus Comaroma at all, but instead likely belongs in the family Theridiidae.
(Coddington 2005; Bradley 2013)
Anapidae is a family of rather small spiders with 232 described species in 58 genera.[1] It includes the former family Micropholcommatidae as the subfamily Micropholcommatinae,[2] and the former family Holarchaeidae. Most species are less than 2 millimetres (0.079 in) long.[3]
They generally live in leaf litter and moss on the floor of rain forest. Many build orb webs with a diameter less than 3 centimetres (1.2 in). In some species, such as P. parocula, the pedipalps of the female are reduced to coxal stumps.[3]
Spiders of this family are very small, usually less than two millimeters long, and lack a cribellum. They can have either six or eight eyes, the rear median eyes either reduced or missing. The carapace is modified so that the eyes are raised higher than usual. Color can range from reddish brown to yellowish brown. Both margins of chelicerae have teeth. The legs are short and spineless. The labium has a spur that extends between the chelicerae and can be seen when the chelicerae are spread.[4]
Anapidae are found worldwide, particularly in South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Few genera occur in North America or Europe. Only Comaroma simoni and the three species of Zangherella are found in Europe; Gertschanapis shantzi and Comaroma mendocino are found in the United States.[5]
The family Micropholcommatidae was synonymized with this family by Schütt in 2003[6] and by Lopa et al. in 2011,[7][2] a change that has been accepted by the World Spider Catalog.[5] Similarly, the family Holarchaeidae was synonymized by Dimitrov et al. in 2017, and likewise accepted by the World Spider Catalog.[8]
As of January 2023, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera:[1]
Ramirez, M.J.; Platnick, N.I. (1999). "On Sofanapis antillanca (Araneae, Anapidae) as a kleptoparasite of austrochiline spiders (Araneae, Austrochilidae)" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 27 (2): 547–549.
Anapidae is a family of rather small spiders with 232 described species in 58 genera. It includes the former family Micropholcommatidae as the subfamily Micropholcommatinae, and the former family Holarchaeidae. Most species are less than 2 millimetres (0.079 in) long.
They generally live in leaf litter and moss on the floor of rain forest. Many build orb webs with a diameter less than 3 centimetres (1.2 in). In some species, such as P. parocula, the pedipalps of the female are reduced to coxal stumps.
