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]

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. 1 2 3 4 "Gen. Sason Simon, 1887". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  2. 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.
  3. "Taxon details Sason robustum (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1883)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  4. 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.
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