Editing Nursery web spider (section)

{{short description|Family of spiders}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Palaeogene|present}}
| name = Nursery web spiders
| image = Nursery web spider (Nilus albocinctus) female.jpg
| image_caption = ''Nilus albocinctus'', female<br>[[Sabah]], [[Borneo]]
| image2 = Bytom Pisaura mirabilis female tent.jpg
| image2_caption = ''[[Pisaura mirabilis]]'' female with its nursery of spiderlings
| taxon = Pisauridae
| authority = [[Eugène Simon|Simon]], 1890
| range_map = Distribution.pisauridae.1.png
| diversity = [[#Genera|51 genera]], [[List of Pisauridae species|508 species]]
}}
'''Nursery web spiders''' ('''Pisauridae''') are a family of [[Araneomorphae|araneomorph]] [[spider]]s first described by [[Eugène Simon]] in 1890.<ref>{{cite book| last=Simon| first=E.| year=1890| title=Etudes arachnologiques}}</ref> Females of the family are known for building special nursery webs. When their eggs are about to hatch, a female spider builds a tent-like web, places her [[egg sac]] inside, and stands guard outside, hence the family's common name. Like [[wolf spider]]s, however, nursery web spiders are roaming hunters that do not use [[Spider web|webs]] for catching prey.

Species occur throughout the world except for extremely dry or cold environments, and are common just about everywhere. Many can walk on the surface of still bodies of water and may even dive beneath the surface temporarily to escape enemies. They can jump a distance of {{convert|5|to|6|in}}, but they have trouble climbing extremely smooth surfaces such as [[glass]].

The name "nursery web spider" is especially given to the European species ''[[Pisaura mirabilis]]''.  Adult female specimens may reach up to 15&nbsp;mm in length, excluding legs.  The legs of the male are longer in relation to body size than those of the female.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1098/rsbl.2015.0957|pmid=26911340|title=Benefits of size dimorphism and copulatory silk wrapping in the sexually cannibalistic nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira|journal=Biology Letters|volume=12|issue=2|pages=20150957|pmc=4780555|year=2016|last1=Anderson|first1=Alissa G.|last2=Hebets|first2=Eileen A.}}</ref>

The female spider sometimes attempts to eat the male after mating. The male, to reduce the risk of this, often presents the female with a gift such as a fly when approaching in the hope that this will satisfy her hunger. Sometimes, this gift is a fake present intended to fool the female.<ref>[https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/male-spiders-scam-females-with-gift-11-11-21/ Male Spiders Scam Females with Gift-Wrapped Garbage]</ref> Males may wrap the fake gift in silk, to deceive the female to mate. Females can detect the fake gift and terminate mating, negating the male's deception in not giving a real gift.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Albo|first1 = Maria J|last2 = Winther|first2 = Gudrun|last3 = Tuni|first3 = Cristina|last4 = Toft|first4 = Søren|last5 = Bilde|first5 = Trine|date = 2011-11-14|title = Worthless donations: male deception and female counter play in a nuptial gift-giving spider|journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology|language = En|volume = 11|issue = 1|page = 329|doi = 10.1186/1471-2148-11-329|pmc = 3228764|pmid = 22082300 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2011BMCEE..11..329A }}</ref>

Nursery web spiders resemble wolf spiders (Lycosidae) except for some key differences. The posterior lateral eyes of wolf spiders are relatively far back and point sideways. In nursery web spiders, the posterior lateral eyes are closer to the posterior median eyes.<ref name="Montgomery1904">{{cite journal |last1=Montgomery |first1=Thomas H. |title=Descriptions of North American Araneae of the Families Lycosidæ and Pisauridæ |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |date=1904 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=261–323 |jstor=4062862 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4062862 |issn=0097-3157|hdl=2027/osu.32435012300505 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Also, female nursery web spiders carry their egg sacs with their [[chelicerae]] instead of attaching them to their [[spinneret (spider)|spinnerets]] as wolf spiders do.<ref name="Carico">{{cite journal |last1=Carico |first1=James E. |title=The Spider Genus Tinus (Pisauridae) |journal=Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |date=1976 |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=63–78|doi=10.1155/1976/79585 |doi-access=free }}</ref>