Myrmecotypus

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Myrmecotypus
M. rettenmeyeri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Corinnidae
Genus: Myrmecotypus
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894[1]
Type species
M. fuliginosus
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894
Species

14, see text

Myrmecotypus is a genus of ant mimicking corinnid sac spiders first described by O. Pickard-Cambridge in 1894.[2] Species mainly occur from Panama to Mexico, with one species found in the United States, and one in Argentina.[3][1]

M. rettenmeyeri, named after entomologist Carl Rettenmeyer, has an unusual longitudinal band of black hairs extending along the midline of the cephalothorax, enhancing its resemblance to Camponotus sericeiventris, an ant it shares a habitat with. The black hairs correspond to the solid longitudinal keel-like dorsal extensions of the posterior sections of the ant's thorax.

References

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