Austrochilidae is a small

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

family with nine species in two genera. ''

Austrochilus ''Austrochilus'' is a genus of South American cribellate araneomorph spiders in the family Austrochilidae, first described by H. Zapfe in 1955. Species it contains seven species in Chile and Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argen ...

'' and ''

Thaida ''Thaida'' is a genus of South American cribellate araneomorph spiders in the family Austrochilidae, first described by Ferdinand Karsch in 1880. it contains only two species in Chile and Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine ...

'' are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the Andean forest of central and southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and adjacent

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Taxonomy

, two genera are placed in the family Austrochilidae: ''

'' and ''

'', found in

and

. The taxonomic placement of these genera has varied. In 1968, Lehtinen synonymized ''Austrochilus'' and ''Thaida'' under the latter name, placing the genus in a family he called "Thaididae". However, the family name "Thaididae" is preoccupied, being first used for a family of

gastropods The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. The ...

in 1887. A single family was accepted by Forster ''et al''. in 1987, under the name "Austrochilidae". Molecular phylogenetic studies agree in placing the two genera as basal members of the

Araneomorphae The Araneomorphae (also called the Labidognatha) are an infraorder of spiders. They are distinguishable by chelicerae (fangs) that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae (tarantulas and their ...

, although the precise details and the family placement are not yet agreed.

Phylogeny

One hypothesis for the phylogeny of the genera placed in the family is shown below (Austrochilidae genera in bold). The family shows a mixture of "primitive" and "advanced" features. The retention of four book lungs places the family at the base of the

, whereas some features of their silk production are regarded as derived.

Species

, the

World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ...

accepts the following genera: *''

'' Gertsch & Zapfe, 1955 — Chile, Argentina *''

'' Karsch, 1880 — Chile, Argentina

References

* Grismado, C. J., L. Lopardo & N. I. Platnick (2003). A new species of ''Austrochilus'' from Chile (Araneae, Austrochilidae, Austrochilinae). J. Arachnol. 31: 148–150
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(''A. forsteri'') {{Taxonbar, from=Q5896 Spiders of Australia Spiders of South America Araneomorphae families

Taxonomy

Phylogeny

Species

See also

References