A Review of the Spider Superfamilies Hypochiloidea and Austrochiloidea (Araneae, Araneomorphae)
Forster RR, Platnick NI, Gray MR. 1987. A Review of the Spider Superfamilies Hypochiloidea and Austrochiloidea (Araneae, Araneomorphae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 185:1-116
The "hypochiloids," the most primitive known araneomorph spiders, are reclassified on the basis of a cladistic analysis of the results of a comparative morphological survey. Platnick's previous hypothesis-that the family Hypochilidae, containing two genera (Hypochilus, from the United States, and Ectatosticta, from China), represents the sister group ofall other araneomorphs-is corroborated, and four new species ofHypochilus (H. pococki, H. coylei, H. sheari, and H. kastoni) are described. However, Platnick's and all other previous arrangements of the remaining "hypochiloid" genera are rejected in favor of a hypothesis that these austral taxa form a monophyletic group, the superfamily Austrochiloidea, containing two families, the Austrochilidae and Gradungulidae. The family Hickmaniidae Lehtinen, containing only the Tasmanian species Hickmania troglodytes (Higgins and Petterd), is relegated to subfamilial status within the Austrochilidae. In its sister group, the Austrochilinae, Lehtinen's synonymy of Austrochilus manni Gertsch and Zapfe with Thaida peculiaris Karsch is rejected on both the specific and generic levels; four new species ofAustrochilus (A. melon, A. schlingeri, A. franckei, and A. newtoni) and one new species of Thaida (T. chepu) are described from Chile and adjacent Argentina. Five new genera of Gradungulidae are described: Spelungula, containing S. cavernicola, new species, from New Zealand; Tarlina, containing five new species (T. noorundi, type species, T. milledgei, T. smithersi, T. daviesae, and T. simipes) and T. woodwardi (Forster), transferred from Gradungula, all from eastern Australia; Kaiya, containing three new species (K terama, type species, K. bemboka, and K. parnabyi) and K. brindabella (Moran), transferred from Gradungula, all from eastern Australia; Pianoa, containing P. isolata, new species, from New Zealand; and Macrogradungula, containing M. moonya, new species, from Queensland, Australia.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Forster, Raymond; Platnick, Norman; Gray, Michael
- Units
- BLCA , BLRI , CUGA , GRSM , SEQU , YOSE
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, BLRI, Blue Ridge Parkway, Crabtree Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, holotype, Hypochilus, Hypochilus bonneti, Hypochilus petrunkevitchi, Hypochilus pococki, Hypochilus sheari, Hypochilus thorelli, new species, paratype, SER, Southeast Region, spiders, taxonomy