Phyxelididae

Female Phyxelida, from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman (2007).

Belongs within: Neocribellatae.

The Phyxelididae are a family of spiders found primarily in the Afrotropical region that construct tangled or sheet webs in damp, dark secluded places (Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007). Males have a modified first metatarsus bearing an apophysis and/or articulate spur used for grasping the female during mating.

See also: Lace web weavers.

Characters (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Small to medium-sized; eight eyes present in two rows; palpal femora with group of spines at base of median face; legs with three tarsal claws; cribellate; male palp with simple sclerotised dorsal and rarely retrolateral tibial apophyses; metatarsi I of male strongly modified; entelegyne.

<==Phyxelididae [Phyxelidinae] GC99
    |  i. s.: Ambohima GC99
    |         Kulalania GC99
    |         Lamaika GC99
    |         Malaika GC99
    |         Matundua GC99
    |         Namaquarachne GC99
    |         Pongolania GC99
    |         Themacrys GC99
    |         Vidole GC99
    |--Vytfutia GC99
    `--+--Xevioso GC99
       `--Phyxelida Simon 1894 GC99, JD-S07
            |--P. carcharata JD-S07
            `--P. kipia JD-S07

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[GC99] Griswold, C. E., J. A. Coddington, N. I. Platnick & R. R. Forster. 1999. Towards a phylogeny of entelegyne spiders (Araneae, Araneomorphae, Entelegynae). Journal of Arachnology 27: 53–63.

[JD-S07] Jocqué, R., & A. S. Dippenaar-Schoeman. 2007. Spider Families of the World. Royal Museum for Central Africa: Tervuren (Belgium).

Last updated: 4 October 2019.