Long-legged spider - Ashinagagumo

This spider belongs to the Arthropoda phylum, Arachnidae order, and Tetragnathidae family. Its body and legs are thin and long, about 15 to 20 mm long, and gray-brown in color. Its web is a horizontal circular web that is stretched near the surface of the water in mountain streams, and the spider stays on the web with its legs stretched out forward and backward. It is widely distributed throughout Japan. There are many species in this group, and the common species in Japan are the long-jawed spider, which has a thin body with rounded fang bases, the small green Scaled Long-jawed Spider, and the Togari Long-jawed Spider, which has a pointed abdomen at the rear. The Ogasawara Islands are home to the long-jawed spider, which has long spines on its legs. This spider has a long upper jaw, so it is called the long jawed spider in foreign countries.

[Takeo Yaginuma]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

節足動物門クモ形綱真正クモ目アシナガグモ科に属するクモ。体も脚(あし)も細くて長く、体長15～20ミリメートルぐらいで灰褐色。網は水平円網で渓流の水面近くに張り、クモは脚を前後に伸ばして網に留まる。日本全国に広く分布している。この仲間には多くの種類があり、体全体が細く牙(きば)の基部が丸いヤサガタアシナガグモ、小形で緑色のウロコアシナガグモ、腹部の後端がとがるトガリアシナガグモなどは日本に普通にみられる。小笠原(おがさわら)諸島には脚のとげの長いトゲナガアシナガグモがいる。この仲間は上あごが長いので、外国ではナガアゴグモlong jawed spiderとよばれている。

［八木沼健夫］

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