Beneficial-predators
Guides
Pisauridae
Nursery Web Spiders, Fishing Spiders
Pisauridae is a moderately diverse family of hunting spiders comprising approximately 333 described species worldwide. Members exhibit exceptional behavioral diversity, ranging from web-based hunters and water surface hunters to ambush hunters in vegetation. The family is best known for the distinctive 'nursery web' behavior: females carry egg sacs with their jaws and pedipalps (not spinnerets), then construct protective silk tents for emerging spiderlings, which they guard until dispersal. The European species Pisaura mirabilis is the namesake 'nursery web spider,' though the family includes fishing spiders (Dolomedes), semi-aquatic specialists, and strictly terrestrial forms.