Macrobunidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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. It was treated as a subfamily of

Amaurobiidae Amaurobiidae is a family of three-clawed cribellate or ecribellate spiders found in crevices and hollows or under stones where they build retreats, and are often collected in pitfall traps. Unlidded burrows are sometimes quite obvious in crusty, ...

until elevated to a full family based on a 2023

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.

Taxonomy

A 2023

study of the 'marronoid' group of initially nine spider families led to a changed

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: * Circumscribed circle * Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) * Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthr ...

of some of the families, including two resurrected or new families, Cicurinidae and Macrobunidae. The relationships in the study's maximum likelihood summary tree are shown below. The subfamily Macrobuninae was originally created as part of the family

, but in the study was shown to be a

monophyletic 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 co ...

group well removed from Amaurobiidae. Accordingly it was raised to family rank.

Genera

, 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 ...

accepted the following genera, all formerly placed in the family Amaurobiidae: *'' Anisacate'' Mello-Leitão, 1941 *'' Auximella'' Strand, 1908 *'' Callevopsis'' Tullgren, 1902 *'' Cavernocymbium'' Ubick, 2005 *'' Chresiona'' Simon, 1903 *'' Chumma'' Jocqué, 2001 *'' Emmenomma'' Simon, 1884 *'' Funny'' Lin & Li, 2022 *'' Hicanodon'' Tullgren, 1901 *'' Huoyanluo'' Lin & Li, 2024 *''

Livius Livius may refer to: * Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, a Roman senator opposing the autocracy of Augustus *''Livius'', a genus of spiders with the sole species '' Livius macrospinus'' *Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English a ...

'' Roth, 1967 *'' Macrobunus'' Tullgren, 1901 *'' Malenella'' Ramírez, 1995 *'' Naevius'' Roth, 1967 *'' Neoporteria'' Mello-Leitão, 1943 *'' Obatala'' Lehtinen, 1967 *'' Parazanomys'' Ubick, 2005 *'' Pseudauximus'' Simon, 1902 *'' Retiro'' Mello-Leitão, 1915 *'' Rubrius'' Simon, 1887 *'' Tasmabrochus'' Davies, 2002 *'' Tasmarubrius'' Davies, 1998 *'' Teeatta'' Davies, 2005 *''

Urepus ''Urepus'' is a genus of South American spiders in the family Macrobunidae containing the single species, ''Urepus rossi''. It was first described by V. D. Roth in 1967, and has only been found in Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Pe ...

'' Roth, 1967 *'' Yupanquia'' Lehtinen, 1967 *'' Zanomys'' Chamberlin, 1948

Description

Members of the 'marronoid' group of spiders are generally relatively small, brownish, and without striking morphological features. Macrobunidae species vary in whether they have a

cribellum Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates. In certain groups of diatoms it refers to microscopically punctured regions of the frustule, or ...

or not. Usually, cribellate macrobunids have an undivided cribellum, although some have a cribellum divided into two parts. Ecribellate macrobunids have a

colulus Cribellum literally means "little sieve", and in biology the term generally applies to anatomical structures in the form of tiny perforated plates. In certain groups of diatoms it refers to microscopically punctured regions of the frustule, or ...

in place of the cribellum. The tibiae of the male

palp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicera ...

usually have multiple apophyses. The

retrolateral tibial apophysis This glossary describes the terms used in formal descriptions of spiders; where applicable these terms are used in describing other arachnids. Links within the glossary are shown . Terms A * Abdomen or opisthosoma: One of the two main body par ...

has a branch which engages with a stridulatory area on the cymbium.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q124736896 Araneomorphae families