Linyphiidae
Linyphiidae, spiders commonly known as sheet weavers (from the shape of their webs), or money spiders (in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and in Portugal, from the superstition that if such a spider is seen running on one, it has come to spin the person new clothes, meaning financial good fortune) is a family of very small spiders comprising 4706 described species in 620 genera worldwide. This makes Linyphiidae the second largest family of spiders after the Salticidae. The family is poorly understood due to their small body size and wide distribution; new genera and species are still being discovered throughout the world. The newest such genus is Himalafurca from Nepal, formally described in April 2021 by Tanasevitch. Since it is so difficult to identify such tiny spiders, there are regular changes in taxonomy as species are combined or divided.
| Dwarf spiders Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Drapetisca alteranda | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Superfamily: | Araneoidea |
| Family: | Linyphiidae Blackwall, 1859 |
| Subfamilies | |
|
Dubiaraneinae | |
| Diversity | |
| 624 genera, 4724 species | |
Money spiders are known for drifting through the air via a technique termed “ballooning”.
Within the agriculture industry, money spiders are regarded as biological control agents against pest species like aphids and springtails.