In North America, the spiders in the infraorder Araneomorphae include the true spiders. Typical features of these spiders include: 1) book lungs are either absent or only a single pair is present, 2) three pairs of functioning spinnerets and 3) fangs or chelicarae are opposing or oblique. Spiders in the family Antrodiaetidae are known by numerous common names. Some of the most familiar include: orb weavers, crab spiders, wolf spiders, huntsmen spiders, violin spiders and jumping spiders. (Ubick et al, 2005)
Classification:
The infraorder Araneomorphae is subdivided into ninety four (94) families. Current knowledge suggests that as many as twenty six of these families maybe present in Alberta. Of these twenty six families, twenty one have been confirmed in Alberta. These twenty one families have been organized alphabetically and divided into groups as per the buttons below. The remaining five questionable families maybe present in Alberta, but no representatives have been identified. These unconfirmed families include: Anyphaenidae, Cybaeidae, Dysderidae, Mysmenidae and Nesticidae (they are not covered in this website).
