Crevice-weaver
Guides
Filistatidae
crevice weavers
Filistatidae are cribellate spiders commonly known as crevice weavers, characterized by their distinctive silk-producing anatomy and retreat-building behavior. Members of this family possess a cribellum—an additional silk-spinning organ—and a calamistrum, a comb of curved hairs on the fourth leg used to card silk into a non-sticky, highly entangling web structure. The family includes synanthropic species that frequently inhabit human structures, as well as species restricted to natural habitats such as arid and semi-arid regions.
Filistatinella
Filistatinella is a genus of crevice weaver spiders (family Filistatidae) first described by Gertsch & Ivie in 1936. The genus contains ten species distributed in the southern United States and Mexico. Members are small spiders, measuring 1.5–3.5 mm in body length. At least one species, F. domestica, has been documented exhibiting specialized cribellar silk-combing and line-adding behaviors during web construction.
Kukulcania arizonica
Arizona black hole spider
Kukulcania arizonica is a crevice-weaving spider native to the southwestern United States, commonly known as the Arizona black hole spider. Females are velvety black with a compact, tarantula-like body form and can live for several years, reaching approximately 13 mm in body length. Males are dramatically different in appearance—pale beige or brown with small bodies and disproportionately long legs. The species constructs distinctive lacy, non-sticky webs that radiate from a silken tube retreat, typically built in crevices on building walls or similar structures. The spider belongs to the cribellate lineage, possessing specialized silk-producing structures that produce entangling rather than adhesive capture threads.
Kukulcania geophila
crevice weaver
Kukulcania geophila is a species of crevice weaver spider in the family Filistatidae, distributed across the southwestern United States and Mexico. Like other members of its genus, it constructs distinctive lacy, cribellate webs that emerge from sheltered retreats in crevices. The species exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism, with females being larger, dark-colored, and long-lived compared to males. Two subspecies are recognized: K. g. geophila and K. g. wawona.
Kukulcania hurca
crevice weaver
Kukulcania hurca is a species of crevice weaver spider in the family Filistatidae. It is native to the United States and Mexico. Like other members of its genus, it constructs distinctive lacy, cribellate webs in sheltered locations. The species exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism, with females appearing velvety black or dark gray and males being pale with elongated legs.
Kukulcania utahana
crevice weaver
Kukulcania utahana is a species of crevice weaver spider in the family Filistatidae. It was described by Chamberlin and Ivie in 1935. Like other members of its genus, it constructs distinctive lacy, cribellate webs in sheltered locations. The species is found in the United States, with records from the southwestern region.
Philoponella arizonica
Philoponella arizonica is a species of crevice weaver spider in the family Uloboridae, first described by Gertsch in 1936. The species occurs in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Like other members of the genus Philoponella, it constructs characteristic sprawling, lacy cribellate webs that issue from retreats in crevices and sheltered locations. Females are notably long-lived and continue to molt after reaching sexual maturity, a trait shared only with mygalomorph spiders among arachnids.