Tetragnatha

Taxobox
name = "Tetragnatha"


image_caption = female "T. extensa"
image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Araneomorphae
familia = Tetragnathidae
subfamilia = Tetragnathinae
genus = "Tetragnatha"
genus_authority = Latreille, 1804
diversity_link = List of Tetragnathidae species#Tetragnatha
diversity = 326 species
type_species =
type_species_authority =
range_

range_map_width = 250px
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "T. boydi"
"T. dearmata"
"T. extensa"
"T. major"
"T. montana"
"T. nigrita"
"T. nitens"
"T. obtusa"
"T. striata"
"hundreds more"

"Tetragnatha" is a genus of spiders containing hundreds of species. They are found all over the world, although most occur in the tropics and subtropics. They are commonly called "stretch spiders", referring to their elongated body form. When disturbed they will stretch their front legs forward and the others in the other direction, thus being able to hide on blades of grass or similar elongated substrates. They are able to run over water.

One of the biggest and most common species is "T. extensa", which has a holarctic distribution. It can be found near lakes, river banks or swamps cite book |author=Ambros Hänggi, Edi Stöckli & Wolfgang Nentwig |year=1995 |title=Lebensräume Mitteleuropäischer Spinnen |publisher=Miscellanea Faunistica Helvetiae - Centre suisse de cartographie de la faune, Neuchatel |id=ISBN 2884140085] . In the stratum of reed, tall grass or minor trees and shrubs those habitats are sometimes literally ruled by thousands of individuals of the stretch spiders who build their radial nets with sticky silk.

A shift to cursorial behavior in the Hawai'ian "Tetragnatha" species seems to have occurred very early on arrival of the ancestor on the island chain [cite journal |author=R. G. Gillespie, H. B. Croom & S. R. Palumbi |year=1994 |title=Multiple origins of a spider radiation in Hawaii |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=91 |pages=2290–2294 |doi=10.1073/pnas.91.6.2290 |pmid=8134390] .

References