Anansi
Guides
Mimetidae
Pirate spiders
Pirate spiders (Mimetidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders renowned for their specialized araneophagic behavior—they hunt and feed on other spiders rather than building webs to capture prey. Members of this family employ aggressive mimicry, infiltrating the webs of cobweb weavers, orb weavers, and other spiders, then subduing their hosts with spider-specific venom. The family contains approximately 200 species across 12 genera worldwide, with highest diversity in the Neotropics. North America hosts 18 described species in three genera, with another ten species awaiting formal description. These small spiders (typically 3–7 mm body length) are characterized by long leg spines and distinctive eye arrangements.