Sason (spider)
| Sason | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sason robustum, adult and its nest | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: | Barychelidae |
| Genus: | Sason Simon, 1887[1] |
| Type species | |
| Sarpedon robustum O. P-Cambridge, 1883[1] | |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
| Diversity[1] | |
| 9 species | |
Sason is a genus of mygalomorph bark-dwelling trapdoor spiders of the family Barychelidae. It is distributed from the Seychelles through India to northern Australia. The closest related genus seems to be the monotypic Paracenobiopelma.[2]
Description
The small (five to ten millimeters long), compact, stout-legged spiders of the subfamily Sasoninae resemble those of the family Migidae in general appearance. Spiders of the genus Sason are strongly patterned. The males particularly have many short bristles on the glabrous carapace.[2]
Taxonomy
The genus was erected by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1883 for the species Sarpedon robustum.[3] However, Eugène Simon discovered that the genus name Sarpedon was already preoccupied for a genus of beetles, and in 1887 proposed the replacement name Sason. Both Sason, an abbreviation of the biblical name Samson, and the earlier name based on Sarpedon, a legendary king at the siege of Troy, allude to the regal appearance of these spiders.[2]
Species
As of March 2016, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following species:[1]
- Sason andamanicum (Simon, 1888) — Andaman Islands
- Sason colemani Raven, 1986 — Queensland
- Sason hirsutum Schwendinger, 2003 — Indonesia
- Sason maculatum (Roewer, 1963) — Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands
- Sason pectinatum Kulczynski, 1908 — New Guinea
- Sason rameshwaram Siliwal & Molur, 2009 — India
- Sason robustum (O. P.-Cambridge, 1883) — India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles
- Sason sechellanum Simon, 1898 — Seychelles
- Sason sundaicum Schwendinger, 2003 — Thailand, Malaysia
Distribution
Most Sason species are endemic to rather small areas. Two factors are believed to have contributed to the distribution pattern of Sason. For one, some are found on small islands that emerged from the ocean floor in recent geological times, without ever having been connected to the mainland. These were likely inhabited by pregnant females surviving in floating logs. However, most of the speciation is believed to have occurred due to fragmentation of the former supercontinent Gondwana.[4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Gen. Sason Simon, 1887". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
- 1 2 3 Raven, R. (1986). "A revision of the spider genus Sason Simon (Sasoninae, Barychelidae, Mygalomorphae) and its historical biogeography" (PDF). The Journal of Arachnology. 14: 47–70. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
- ↑ "Taxon details Sason robustum (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1883)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
- ↑ Schwendinger, P.J. (2003). "Two new species of the arboreal trapdoor spider genus Sason (Araneae: Barychelidae) from Southeast Asia" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 51 (2): 197–207. Retrieved 2016-03-07.