Araneoidea

Pirate spider Ero furcata, copyright Tone Killick.

Belongs within: Neocribellatae.
Contains: Nesticidae, Theridiidae, Synotaxidae, Cyatholipidae, Nephilidae, Araneidae, Theridiosomatidae, Symphytognathidae, Mysmenidae, Anapidae, Linyphiidae, Tetragnathidae.

The Araneoidea are a clade of spiders that commonly construct elaborate webs for capturing prey such as orb or cob webs. Members include the Mimetidae, pirate spiders, which are small spiders with peg teeth on the chelicerae and prolateral rows of interspersed large and small spines on the first two tibiae and metatarsi; members of this family are typically araneophagous and do not construct a web (Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007).

Synapomorphies (from Jocqué & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2007): Cribellum absent; posterior lateral spinnerets with two aciniform gland spigots flanking flagelliform gland spigot; setae serrate; labium short; lateral eyes juxtaposed at least in males.

<==Araneoidea [Extentae]
    |--+--+--Theridioidea JD-S07
    |  |  |    |--Nesticidae JD-S07
    |  |  |    `--Theridiidae BS09
    |  |  `--Cyatholipoidea JD-S07
    |  |       |--Synotaxidae JD-S07
    |  |       `--Cyatholipidae PVD10
    |  `--+--Nephilidae BS09
    |     `--+--Araneidae BS09
    |        `--+--Theridiosomatidae S03
    |           `--+--+--Symphytognathidae S03
    |              |  `--Mysmenidae S03
    |              `--+--Anapidae BS09
    |                 `--Synaphridae S03
    |                      |--Crassignatha Wunderlich 1994 S03
    |                      |--Iardinus Simon 1899 S03
    |                      |--Synaphris Simon 1894 S03
    |                      `--Cepheia Simon 1894 S03
    |                           `--C. longiseta Simon 1881 S03
    `--+--Linyphioidea JD-S07
       |    |--Linyphiidae BS09
       |    `--Pimoidae JD-S07
       |         |--Weintrauboa Hormiga 2003 JD-S07
       |         |--Nanoa Hormiga, Buckle & Scharff 2005 JD-S07
       |         `--Pimoa Chamberin & Ivie 1943 JD-S07
       |              |--P. altioculata Chamberlin & Ivie 1943 SC97
       |              `--P. laurae JD-S07
       `--+--Tetragnathidae BS09
          `--+--Malkaridae JD-S07
             |    |--Malkara Davies 1980 [Malkarinae] RRH09
             |    |    `--M. loricata FF99
             |    `--Sternoidinae [Sternodidae, Sternoidini] RRH09
             |         |--Carathea Moran 1986 RRH09
             |         |--Chilenodes Platnick & Forster 1987 RRH09
             |         `--Perissopmeros Butler 1932 (see below for synonymy) RRH09
             |              |--*P. castaneous Butler 1932 RRH09
             |              |--P. darwini Rix, Roberts & Harvey 2009 RRH09
             |              |--‘*Sternodes’ foraminatus Butler 1929 [=*Sternoides foraminatus] RRH09
             |              `--‘Sternodes’ mullawerringi JD-S07
             `--Mimetidae BS09
                  |--Mimetarchaea gintaras Eskov 1992 SHR08
                  |--Gnolus [Gnoleae, Oarciinae] SC97
                  |--Mimetus Hentz 1832 JD-S07
                  |    |--M. biturberculatus P92
                  |    |--M. hesperus R14
                  |    `--M. notius R14
                  |--Australomimetus Heimer 1989 PVD10
                  |    |--A. mendicus (Pickard-Cambridge 1879) PVD10
                  |    `--A. sennio (Urquhart 1891) PVD10
                  `--Ero FF99
                       |--E. aberrans Petrunckevitch 1958 S93
                       |--E. cambridgei Kulczynski 1911 BBM02
                       |--E. carboneana Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
                       |--E. furcata (Villers 1789) BBM02
                       `--E. permunda Petrunkevitch 1942 S93

Araneoidea incertae sedis:
  Hypopthalma E90
  Juraraneus [Juraraneidae] SHR08
    `--J. rasnitsyni Eskov 1984 SHR08
  Cretaraneus vilaltae Selden 1990 S93
  Acrometidae S93
    |--Pseudoacrometa Wunderlich 1986 P92
    |    `--P. gracilipes Wunderlich 1986 S93
    |--Cornuanandrus Wunderlich 1986 P92
    |    `--C. maior Wunderlich 1986 S93
    |--Anandrus S93
    |    |--A. inermis (Petrunkevitch 1942) S93
    |    |--A. quaesitus (Petrunkevitch 1958) S93
    |    `--A. redemptus (Petrunkevitch 1958) S93
    `--Acrometa S93
         |--A. cristata Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
         |--A. minutum (Petrunkevitch 1942) S93
         |--A. robustum (Petrunkevitch 1942) S93
         |--A. samlandica (Petrunkevitch 1942) S93
         |--A. setosus (Petrunkevitch 1942) S93
         `--A. succini Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
  Adjutoridae S93
    |--Ajunctor similis Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
    |--Admissor aculeatus Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
    `--Adjutor S93
         |--A. deformis Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
         `--A. mirabilis Petrunkevitch 1942 S93
  Ephalmator [Ephalmatoridae] S93
    |--E. eximius Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
    `--E. fossilis Petrunkevitch 1958 S93
  Zarqaraneidae W19
  Cretamysmenidae W19

Perissopmeros Butler 1932 [incl. Sternodes Butler 1929 (preoc.), Sternoides Platnick 1998] RRH09

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BS09] Blackledge, T. A., N. Scharff, J. A. Coddington, T. Szüts, J. W. Wenzel, C. Y. Hayashi & I. Agnarsson. 2009. Reconstructing web evolution and spider diversification in the molecular era. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (13): 5229–5234.

[BBM02] Bonte, D., L. Baert & J.-P. Maelfait. 2002. Spider assemblage structure and stability in a heterogeneous coastal dune system (Belgium). Journal of Arachnology 30 (2): 331–343.

[E90] Eberhard, W. G. 1990. Early stages of orb construction by Philoponella vicinia, Leucauge mariana, and Nephila clavipes (Araneae, Uloboridae and Tetragnathidae), and their phylogenetic implications. Journal of Arachnology 18: 205–234.

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

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

[PVD10] Paquin, P., C. J. Vink & N. Dupérré. 2010. Spiders of New Zealand: annotated family key and species list. Manaaki Whenua Press: Lincoln (New Zealand).

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R14] Ramírez, M. J. 2014. The morphology and phylogeny of dionychan spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 390: 1–374.

[RRH09] Rix, M. G., J. D. Roberts & M. S. Harvey. 2009. The spider families Synotaxidae and Malkaridae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea) in Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (3): 295–304.

[SC97] Scharff, N., & J. A. Coddington. 1997. A phylogenetic analysis of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 120: 355–434.

[S03] Schütt, K. 2003. Phylogeny of Symphytognathidae s.l. (Araneae, Araneoidea). Zoologica Scripta 32 (2): 129–151.

[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.

[SHR08] Selden, P. A., Huang D. & Ren D. 2008. Palpimanoid spiders from the Jurassic of China. Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 306–321.

[W19] Wunderlich, J. 2019. What is a spider? Cretaceous fossils modify strongly phylogenetics as well as diagnoses of families, superfamilies and even suborders of spiders (Araneida) and other arthropods. Beiträge zur Araneologie 12: 1–32.

Last updated: 17 January 2022.