A reanalysis of Mygalomorph spider families

GOLOBOFF, PABLO AUGUSTO

AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES

AMER MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY

Año: 1993 vol. 3056 p. 1 - 32

0003-0082

The higher classification of the mygalomorphspiders is reviewed. A data set of 42 taxa and 71characters is analyzed, applying a new method forcharacter weighting. Most families were representedby two or more genera, so that their monophylycould be tested. The trees that best conformto the data have Atypidae plus Antrodiaetidae,Mecicobothriidae, Hexathelidae, non-diplurine"diplurids," and diplurines as successive sistergroups of Rastelloidina plus Crassitarsae. NeitherFomicephalae nor Tuberculotae appear as monophyleticgroups. The groups Atypoidea (restrictedto Atypidae plus Antrodietidae) and Avicularioidea(the rest of the Mygalomorphae) are resurrected.The groups Orthopalpae and Quadrithelinashould be relimited to include theMicrostigmatidae and Rastelloidina. The groupCrassitarsae should include also the Microstigmatidae.The group formed by the Diplurinae andRastelloidina plus Crassitarsae is called Bipectina.Three of the currently recognized families appearas paraphyletic: Cyrtaucheniidae (in terms ofDomiothelina), Nemesiidae (in terms of Microstigmatidaeand Theraphosidae plus Paratropididaeplus Barychelidae), and Dipluridae (in termsofCrassitarsae plus Rastelloidina). Support for themonophyly of Hexathelidae is weak; the data areexplained almost as well by trees in which thefamily is paraphyletic.