Sason (spider)
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| Sason robustum, adult and its nest | |
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Sason
Simon, 1887
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| Type species | |
| Sarpedon robustum O. P-Cambridge, 1883
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| Species | |
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See text. |
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| Diversity | |
| 8 species | |
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Sason is a genus of mygalomorph bark-dwelling trapdoor spiders of the family Barychelidae. It is distributed throughout the Australasian region. The closest related species seems to be the monotypic Paracenobiopelma gerecormophilum.[1]
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, especially the males have many short bristles on the glabrous carapace.[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.[2]
Name
The genus name, an abbreviation of the biblical name Samson, and an earlier name for the genus, Sarpedon (a legendary king at the siege of Troy), both allude to the regal appearance of these spiders. Sason was a replacement name for Sarpedon when Simon found out that Sarpedon was already preoccupied for a genus of beetles.[1]
Species
- 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 robustum (O. P.-Cambridge, 1883) — India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles
- Sason sechellanum Simon, 1898 — Seychelles
- Sason sundaicum Schwendinger, 2003 — Thailand, Malaysia
Footnotes
References
- Raven, R. (1986): A revision of the spider genus Sason Simon (Sasoninae, Barychelidae, Mygalomorphae) and its historical biogeography. The Journal of Arachnology 14: 47-70. PDF
- Schwendinger, P.J. (2003): Two new species of the arboreal trapdoor spider genus Sason (Araneae: Barychelidae) from Southeast Asia. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 51(2): 197-207. PDF
- Platnick, Norman I. (2008): The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History.
