Mimetus is a genus of pirate spiders in the family Mimetidae. They are found worldwide.
Description Members of this genus resemble the comb-footed spiders, Theridiidae, due to their globular abdomen. The upper side of this bears curved bristle-like hairs. A distinguishing mark of the genus is that the distance between the anterior edge of the carapace and the anterior medial eyes is about one-third to one-half of the distance between the anterior and posterior medial eyes. The length of the anterior legs is about 1.5–1.7 times that of the posterior pair.
Behaviour Spiders in this genus are specialised spider killers. They spin no web but are slow moving, stalking or ambushing their prey. They sometimes invade the web of their potential victim, vibrating the silk to mislead the owner. An individual will attack a potential victim by biting one of its legs and injecting toxins. It then retreats and the prey spider quickly becomes paralysed. The attacker then advances and starts to feed, sucking out the body fluids of its victim.
Species , this genus includes 71 species and one subspecies:
Mimetus aktius Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 – United States Mimetus arushae Caporiacco, 1947 – Tanzania Mimetus banksi Chickering, 1947 – Panama Mimetus bifurcatus Reimoser, 1939 – Costa Rica Mimetus bigibbosus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894 – Mexico, Panama Mimetus bishopi Caporiacco, 1949 – Kenya Mimetus brasilianus Keyserling, 1886 – Brazil Mimetus bucerus Gan, Mi, Irfan, Peng, Ran & Zhan, 2019 – China Mimetus caudatus Wang, 1990 – China Mimetus clavatus Liu, Xu, Hormiga & Yin, 2021 – China Mimetus comorensis Schmidt & Krause, 1994 – Comoros Mimetus contrarius (Zeng, Irfan & Peng, 2019) – China Mimetus cornutus Lawrence, 1947 – Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa Mimetus crudelis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899 – Guatemala Mimetus debilispinis Mello-Leitão, 1943 – Brazil Mimetus dentatus Liu, Xu, Hormiga & Yin, 2021 – China Mimetus dimissus Petrunkevitch, 1930 – Puerto Rico, Antigua Mimetus echinatus Wang, 1990 – China Mimetus epeiroides Emerton, 1882 – Canada, United States. Introduced to Galapagos Mimetus eutypus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 – United States Mimetus fernandi Lessert, 1930 – DR Congo Mimetus guiyang J. S. Zhang, Yu & Xu, 2025 – China Mimetus haynesi Gertsch & Mulaik, 1940 – United States Mimetus hesperus Chamberlin, 1923 – Canada, United States Mimetus hieroglyphicus Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil, Paraguay Mimetus hirsutus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899 – Mexico Mimetus hispaniolae Bryant, 1948 – Hispaniola Mimetus indicus Simon, 1906 – India Mimetus investis (Simon, 1909) – Vietnam Mimetus juhuaensis (Xu, Wang & Wang, 1987) – China Mimetus keyserlingi Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Peru, Brazil Mimetus labiatus Wang, 1990 – China Mimetus laevigatus (Keyserling, 1863) – Mediterranean, Slovakia and Hungary to Central Asia Mimetus lamellaris Zeng, Wang & Peng, 2016 – China Mimetus lanmeiae Liu, Yu & Xu, 2025 – China Mimetus latro (Brignoli, 1979) – Kenya Mimetus liangkaii Yao & Liu, 2024 – China Mimetus lingbaoshanensis Gan, Mi, Irfan, Peng, Ran & Zhan, 2019 – China Mimetus madecassus Emerit, 1980 – Madagascar Mimetus margaritifer Simon, 1901 – Malaysia Mimetus marjorieae Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 – Philippines Mimetus melanoleucus Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil Mimetus nelsoni Archer, 1950 – Canada, United States Mimetus niveosignatus Liu, Xu, Hormiga & Yin, 2021 – China Mimetus notius Chamberlin, 1923 – Canada, United States Mimetus parvulus Sankaran, Sudhin & Sen, 2024 – India Mimetus penicillatus Mello-Leitão, 1929 – Brazil Mimetus portoricensis Petrunkevitch, 1930 – Puerto Rico Mimetus puritanus Chamberlin, 1923 – Canada, United States, Jamaica Mimetus rapax O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899 – Costa Rica, Panama Mimetus ridens Brignoli, 1975 – Philippines Mimetus rusticus Chickering, 1947 – Panama Mimetus ryukyus Yoshida, 1993 – Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu Is.) Mimetus saetosus Chickering, 1956 – Panama Mimetus sagittifer (Simon, 1895) – Sri Lanka Mimetus sinicus Song & Zhu, 1993 – China Mimetus spinatus Sudhin, Sankaran & Sen, 2024 – India Mimetus strinatii Brignoli, 1972 – Sri Lanka Mimetus subulatus Liu, Xu, Hormiga & Yin, 2021 – China Mimetus syllepsicus Hentz, 1832 – United States, Mexico (type species) M. s. molestus Chickering, 1937 – Mexico Mimetus testaceus Yaginuma, 1960 – Russia (Far East), China, Korea, Japan Mimetus tillandsiae Archer, 1941 – United States Mimetus triangularis (Keyserling, 1879) – Peru, Brazil Mimetus trituberculatus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899 – Panama Mimetus tuberculatus Liang & Wang, 1991 – China Mimetus uncatus Liu, Xu, Hormiga & Yin, 2021 – China Mimetus variegatus Chickering, 1956 – Panama, Bonaire Mimetus verecundus Chickering, 1947 – Panama Mimetus vespillo Brignoli, 1980 – Indonesia (Sulawesi) Mimetus wangi Zeng, Wang & Peng, 2016 – China Mimetus yinae Gan, Mi, Irfan, Peng, Ran & Zhan, 2019 – China
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