Avicularoidea

Mangrove trapdoor spider Idioctis sp., copyright K. Stenchly.

Belongs within: Mygalomorphae.
Contains: Dipluridae, Hexathelidae, Nemesiidae, Rastelloidina, Theraphosidae.

The Avicularoidea is a clade of mygalomorph spiders in which the male palps have the bulb perpendicular to the cymbium or directed back towards the base. This clade is further divided between the Dipluroidea, with numerous maxillary cuspules on the labium and a prolateral spine on the first tibia of the male, and the Crassitarsae, with a serrula present on the maxilla and small, closely placed posterior lateral spinnerets. Members of the Crassitarsae include the Microstigmatidae, a group of small to medium-sized spiders, found in South Africa and South America, with blunt-tipped or clavate setae covering the body and often encrusted with earth (Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007).

Synapomorphies (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Abdomen with dorsal scutum; posterior lateral spinnerets close, three articles of posterior lateral spinnerets with spigots; male palp without conductor, axis of palpal bulb orthogonal to cymbial axis or directed towards base, cymbial cavity apically open, incised and membranous.

<==Avicularoidea [Anamae, Bipectina, Orthopalpae, Quadrithelina]
    |--Dipluroidea JD-S07
    |    |--Dipluridae JD-S07
    |    `--Hexathelidae JD-S07
    `--Crassitarsae JD-S07
         |--Nemesioidea JD-S07
         |    |--Nemesiidae JD-S07
         |    `--Microstigmatidae JD-S07
         |         |--Microstigmata Strand 1912 [Microstigmatinae] JD-S07
         |         |--Envia Ott & Höfer 2003 JD-S07
         |         |--Ministigmata Raven & Platnick 1987 JD-S07
         |         |--Pseudonemesia Caporiacco 1955 JD-S07
         |         |--Spelocteniza Gertsch 1982 JD-S07
         |         |--Xenonemesia Goloboff 1989 JD-S07
         |         `--Micromygale Platnick & Forster 1982 [Micromygalinae] JD-S07
         |              `--M. diblemma FF99
         `--+--Rastelloidina JD-S07
            `--Theraphosoidina JD-S07
                 |--Theraphosoidea JD-S07
                 |    |--Theraphosidae JD-S07
                 |    `--Paratropididae JD-S07
                 |         |--Melloina Brignoli 1985 [Glabropelmatinae] JD-S07
                 |         `--Paratropidinae JD-S07
                 |              |--Paratropis Simon 1889 JD-S07
                 |              |--Anisapis Simon 1891 JD-S07
                 |              `--Anisapoides P.-Cambridge 1896 JD-S07
                 `--Barychelidae [Barycheli] JD-S07
                      |  i. s.: Cyphonisia maculipes Strand 1906 JD-S07, J98
                      |         Neodiplothele FM11
                      |         Troglothele coeca (Fage 1929) BB14
                      |         Aurecocrypta JD-S07
                      |         Monodontium JD-S07
                      |         Pisenor JD-S07
                      |         Sipalolasma JD-S07
                      |         Synothele butleri Raven 1994 T13
                      |         Plasistops hispaniolensis Wunderlich 1988 S93
                      |--Sasoninae JD-S07
                      |--Trichopelma BB14 [Trichopelmatinae JD-S07]
                      |    |--T. maddeni Esposito & Agnarsson in Bloom, Binford et al. 2014 BB14
                      |    `--T. nitida Simon 1888 BB14
                      `--Barychelinae [Barycheleae] JD-S07
                           |--Barychelus Simon 1889 JD-S07
                           |--Plagiobothrus Karsch 1892 K92
                           |    `--*P. semilunaris Karsch 1892 K92
                           |--Idioctis R14
                           |    |--I. intertidalis JD-S07
                           |    |--I. ornata Rainbow 1914 R14
                           |    `--I. palmarum R14
                           `--Encyocrypta Simon 1888 M54
                                |--E. ausseri R14
                                |--E. fuliginata R14
                                |--E. fusca (Koch 1873) [=Idiommata fusca] R14
                                |--E. parifusca Main 1954 M54
                                `--E. reticulata R14

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BB14] Bloom, T., G. Binford, L. A. Esposito, G. A. Garcia, I. Peterson, A. Nishida, K. Loubet-Senear & I. Agnarsson. 2014. Discovery of two new species of eyeless spiders within a single Hispaniola cave. Journal of Arachnology 42 (2): 148–154.

[FF99] Forster, R., & L. Forster. 1999. Spiders of New Zealand and their World-wide Kin. University of Otago Press: Dunedin (New Zealand).

[FM11] Freire-Jr, G. de B., & P. C. Motta. 2011. Effects of experimental fire regimes on the abundance and diversity of cursorial arachnids of Brazilian savannah (cerrado biome). Journal of Arachnology 39 (2): 263–272.

[J98] Jäger, P. 1998. Das Typenmaterial der Spinnentiere (Arachnida: Acari, Amblypygi, Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones, Scorpiones, Uropygi) aus dem Museum Wiesbaden. Jahrbuecher des Nassauischen Vereins fuer Naturkunde 119: 81–91.

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

[K92] Karsch, F. 1892. Arachniden von Ceylon und von Minikoy gesammelt von den Herren Doctoren P. und F. Sarasin. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 36 (2): 267–310.

[M54] Main, B. Y. 1954. Spiders and Opiliones. In: Willis, J. H. (ed.) The Archipelago of the Recherche pp. 37–53. Australian Geographical Society: Melbourne.

[R14] Rainbow, W. J. 1914. Studies in Australian Araneidae, no. 6, the Terretelariae. Records of the Australian Museum 10 (8): 187–270.

[S93] Selden, P. A. 1993. Arthropoda (Aglaspidida, Pycnogonida and Chelicerata). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 297–320. Chapman & Hall: London.

[T13] Taylor, C. K. 2013. Annotated bibliography for Barrow Island terrestrial invertebrates. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 135–144.

Last updated: 16 October 2019.