[1][page needed] They are found primarily in Eurasia, extending into North Africa with very few species occurring in South America.

One species, Dysdera crocata (the woodlouse hunter), has been transported over much of the planet together with its preferred foods—woodlice.

These spiders have very large chelicerae, which they use to pierce the armored bodies of woodlice and beetles.

The spiders have their six eyes arranged in a semicircle like segestrids, but have only the first two pairs of legs produced forward.

Dysdera crocata has a characteristic coloring, which can only be confused with spiders in the trachelid genera Trachelas and Meriola: the carapace is dull red-brown and the abdomen gray or tan.