The Haplogynae or haplogynes are one of the two main groups into which

araneomorph The Araneomorphae (also called the Labidognatha or "true spiders") 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 (taran ...

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s have traditionally been divided, the other being the

Entelegynae The Entelegynae or entelegynes are a subgroup of araneomorph spiders, the largest of the two main groups into which the araneomorphs were traditionally divided. Females have a genital plate ( epigynum) and a "flow through" fertilization system; ...

. Morphological phylogenetic studies suggested that the Haplogynae formed a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

; more recent molecular phylogenetic studies refute this, although many of the ecribellate haplogynes do appear to form a clade,

Synspermiata Synspermiata is a clade of araneomorph spiders, comprising most of the former " haplogynes". They are united by having simpler genitalia than other araneomorph spiders, lacking a cribellum, and sharing an evolutionary history of synspermia – a ...

. Unlike the

, haplogynes lack hardened (sclerotized) female genitalia (

epigyne The epigyne or epigynum is the external genital structure of female spiders. As the epigyne varies greatly in form in different species, even in closely related ones, it often provides the most distinctive characteristic for recognizing species. ...

s). Most of the species within this group have six eyes, as opposed to most other spiders. Spiders in the genus '' Tetrablemma'' ( Tetrablemmidae) have only four eyes, as do some members of the family Caponiidae; caponiids may even have only two eyes. However, spiders in the family Plectreuridae have the normal eight eyes.

Phylogeny

The Haplogynae are one of the two major groups into which araneomorph spiders were traditionally divided, the other being the Entelegynae. In 2005, Coddington summarized the relationships of these groups as suggested by morphological phylogenetic studies: Subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed the

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of some of the groups suggested by morphological studies, while rejecting many others. A study published in 2015 suggested that two families formerly placed in the Haplogynae do not belong there.

Filistatidae Crevice weaver spiders (Filistatidae) comprise cribellate spiders with features that have been regarded as " primitive" for araneomorph spiders. They are weavers of funnel or tube webs. The family contains 18 genera and more than 120 described s ...

groups with

Hypochilidae Lampshade spiders, family Hypochilidae, are among the most primitive of araneomorph spiders. There are two genus, genera and twelve species currently recognized. Like mygalomorphs, most hypochilids have two pairs of book lungs, but like araneomor ...

at the base of the Haplogynae;

Leptonetidae Leptonetidae is a family of small spiders adapted to live in dark and moist places such as caves. The family is relatively primitive having diverged around the Middle Jurassic period. They were first described by Eugène Simon in 1890. Distingu ...

is basal to the Entelegynae. The similarity of some morphological features of Leptonetidae to those of entelegynes had already been noted. In 2016, a large

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study was published online that included 932 spider species, representing all but one of the then known families. It "refutes important higher-level groups", including Paleocribellatae, Neocribellatae, Araneoclada and Haplogynae. In the preferred cladogram, the "Haplogynae" are divided among a number of clades basal to the Entelegynae, forming at most a grade. "Haplogynae" in the sense of Coddington (2005) are shaded yellow in the cladogram below; Entelegynae in the same sense are shaded blue. The clade

comprises all the ecribellate haplogynes and is consistently recovered, but with low support.

Families

As shown above,

and

are placed outside the traditional haplogynes in the analysis by Wheeler et al. (2017). Traditional haplogyne families they place in Synspermiata are: * Caponiidae * Diguetidae * Drymusidae * Dysderidae *

Ochyroceratidae Ochyroceratidae is a six-eyed spider family, with 165 described species in ten genera. They are common inhabitants of caves and the tropical forest litter of South Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and South America. Considered an ecological counterpar ...

Oonopidae Oonopidae, also known as goblin spiders, is a family (biology), family of spiders consisting of over 1,600 described species in about 113 genus, genera worldwide, with total species diversity estimated at 2000 to 2500 species. The type genus of th ...

* Orsolobidae * Pacullidae * Periegopidae *

Pholcidae The Pholcidae are a Family (biology), family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders. The family contains more than 1,800 individual species of pholcids, including those commonly known as cellar spider, daddy long-legs spider, carpenter spid ...

* Plectreuridae * Scytodidae * Segestriidae *

Sicariidae Sicariidae is a family (biology), family of six-eyed spider bite, venomous spiders known for their potentially necrotic bites. The family consists of three genus, genera and about 160 species. Well known spiders in this family include the Loxosce ...

* Tetrablemmidae Telemidae, traditionally placed in Haplogynae, was not included in the analysis by Wheeler et al. However, it is placed in Synspermiata in other studies. The recently discovered haplogyne family Trogloraptoridae was also placed in Synspermiata. Several extinct families have also been placed into the haplogynes. *† Pholcochyroceridae

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q136328 Araneomorphae Callovian first appearances Extant Middle Jurassic first appearances Historically recognized spider taxa