The atypical tarantulas or purseweb spiders (family Atypidae) consist of only three genera.

These tubes are used to detect prey, such as Coelus globosus, when they cross the tube, similar to the hunting style of purseweb spiders.

The island is also home to the purseweb spider (Atypus affinis), the only British member of the bird-eating spider family.

Purseweb spiders are accomplished ambush predators that spend most of their time in a sock-like, silken retreat on the ground from where they kill their prey.

Sphodros abboti also known as Purseweb spider, is a species of spiders from a family of Atypidae, that can only be found in Florida, United States.

The name "tarantula" is also mistakenly applied to other large-bodied spiders, including the purseweb spiders or atypical tarantulas, the funnel-webs (Dipluridae and Hexathelidae), and the "dwarf tarantulas".

The Red legged purseweb spider (Sphodros rufipes) is a mygalomorph spider from the southern USA, though it has been photographed as far north as Indiana, Missouri and New Jersey.

The Purseweb spider (Atypus affinis) is a common mygalomorph spider from Europe, found mainly in southern England but ranging as far north as Southern Sweden and as far south as North Africa.