Classification

Domain: Eukarya
Eukaryotic organisms are characterized by having cells that contain a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles.

Check out these websites to look at some different eukaryotic organisms:
Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, Narium oleander, and the White Willow

Kingdom: Animalia
Every organism in the family Animalia is heterotrophic, lacks cell walls, is multicellular, and has a motile phase at some point in its life cycle.

Take a look at these other organisms who are in the kingdom Animalia:
Arctic Fox, Pig, Domestic Goat, and the Tiger Flat Worm


Phylum: Arthropoda
The Arthropods all have segmented bodies with distinct regions called tagmata, have paired and jointed appendages, and grow via molting.  They also have a true digestive system and a chitinous exoskeleton.  Members of Arthropoda are triploblastic and coelomates.

Check out some other members of Arthropoda:
Common Green Bottle Fly and the Asian Ant 



Class: Arachnida
Some characteristics that make up the arachnids are having a body that is composed of two tagmata, four pairs of legs, and no antennae.

Take a look at another member of Arachnida:
Giant Red Velvet Mite



Order:  Araneae
These are the “true spiders.”  All members of the order are able to produce silk by using glands in the abdomen region and they also have 1 or 2 pairs of book-lungs.

Check out some other poisonous spiders:
Brazilian Wandering Spider and Brown Recluse Spider



Family: Agelenidae
This family includes all the spiders who are “funnel weavers,” which means their webs are  funnel-like in shape.



Genus: Tegenaria
Theses are the house spiders and they are usually slow moving and brownish in color.



Species: Tegenaria agrestis
Tegenaria agrestis simply means the field or agricultural spider that is a funnel web weaver.  The common name hobo spider was coined because it is believed that the spider was spread to different cities through railways.

 
Phylogenetic Trees:








This tree shows how Tegenaria agrestis is separated from other organisms based on domain, supergroup, kingdom, and phylum.  These different groups are determined by molecular and morphological characteristics.  I have explained at the beginning of this page how the hobo spider fits into each of these categories, but I didn’t talk about supergroup.  A supergroup is a classification that falls in between domain and kingdom.  As you can see from the tree, the hobo is part of the opisthokonta.  All of the organisms who fall into this group have a flat cristae in their mitochondria.

This tree picks up where the last phylogenetic tree left off.  It starts with phylum and goes all the way to species.  I have given some examples of other spiders so that you can compare them with Tegenaria agrestis.  The giant house spider, the southern black widow, and the brown recluse spider are all in the class Araneae.  They start to get separated once they are in their families though.  The southern black widow is classified differently than the hobo spider because it is a cobweb spider and not a funnel-weaver.  The brown recluse spider is separated because it is part of the recluse spiders.  This family of spiders has been known to not form colonies and be on their own.  The hobo spider bite is often mistaken for the brown recluse spider bite, and the giant house spider is one of the hobo spider’s closest relatives.  One difference that it has from Tegenaria agrestis is that its bite doesn’t have any known affects on humans.

Click here to find out how other spiders and bugs are classified.

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