Araneoidea

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Classis: Arachnida
Ordo: Araneae
Subordo: Opisthothelae
Infraordo: Araneomorphae
Taxon: Neocribellatae
Series: Entelegynae
Superfamilia: Araneoidea
Familiae (15 + fossils): Anapidae - Araneidae - Cyatholipidae - Linyphiidae - Mysmenidae - Nesticidae - Pimoidae - Sinopimoidae - Symphytognathidae - Synaphridae - Synotaxidae - Tetragnathidae - Theridiidae - Theridiosomatidae - †Baltsuccinidae - †Burmascutidae - †Cretamysmenidae - †Ephalmatoridae - †Juraraneidae - †Leviunguidae - †Praetheridiidae - †Protheridiidae - †Pumiliopimoidae - †Salticoididae - †Zarqaraneidae - †incertae sedis

Name

Araneoidea
Synonyms

Symphytognathoidea

References

Coddington, J.A. 1990: Ontogeny and homology in the male palpus of orb-weaving spiders and their relatives, with comments on phylogeny (Araneoclada: Araneoidea, Deinopoidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 496: 1–52. PDF
Dimitrov, D. et al. 2016: Rounding up the usual suspects: a standard target-gene approach for resolving the interfamilial phylogenetic relationships of ecribellate orb-weaving spiders with a new family-rank classification (Araneae, Araneoidea). Cladistics, DOI: 10.1111/cla.12165 Reference page.
Griswold, C. E., J. A. Coddington, G. Hormiga & N. Scharff. 1998. Phylogeny of the orb-web building spiders (Araneae, Orbiculariae: Deinopoidea, Araneoidea). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 123:1-99. PDF
Lopardo, L.; Giribet, G.; Hormiga, G. 2011: Morphology to the rescue: molecular data and the signal of morphological characters in combined phylogenetic analyses—a case study from mysmenid spiders (Araneae, Mysmenidae), with comments on the evolution of web architecture. Cladistics, 27(3): 278–330. DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2010.00332.x
Miller, J.; Griswold, C.; Yin, C.M. 2009: The symphytognathoid spiders of the Gaoligongshan, Yunnan, China (Araneae: Araneoidea): systematics and diversity of micro-orbweavers. ZooKeys, 11: 9–195. Abstract PDF
Schütt, K. 2003: Phylogeny of Symphytognathidae s.l. (Araneae, Araneoidea). Zoologica scripta, 32: 129–151. DOI: 10.1046/j.1463-6409.2003.00103.x
Wunderlich, J. & Müller, P. 2018. Fossil spiders (Araneae) in Cretaceous Burmese amber. Beiträge zur Araneologie 11: 1–167. Reference page.

Vernacular names
한국어: 왕거미상과
中文: 圆蛛总科

Araneoidea is a taxon of araneomorph spiders, termed "araneoids", treated as a superfamily. As with many such groups, its circumscription has varied; in particular some families that had at one time moved to the Palpimanoidea have more recently been restored to Araneoidea. A 2014 treatment includes 18 families, with the araneoids making up about 26% of the total number of known spider species;[1] a 2016 treatment includes essentially the same taxa, but now divided into 17 families.[2]
Taxonomy

Many of the differences in circumscription concern the relationship between Araneoidea and Palpimanoidea. In 1984, Raymond R. Forster and Norman I. Platnick proposed that some groups previously considered araneoid actually belonged in the distantly related Palpimanoidea, including the families Holarchaeidae, Micropholcommatidae, Mimetidae and Pararchaeidae. Subsequent phylogenetic studies have rejected this proposal, firmly placing these four families in Araneoidea (some included in other families).[1][2]
Phylogeny

Although there is an increasing consensus on the circumscription of Araneoidea, the relationship between many of its families remains uncertain. In 2014, Hormiga and Griswold produced the summary cladogram shown below, based on what they considered to be the nine most comprehensive phylogenetic studies of Araneoidea prior to their article. Polytomies in the cladogram represent either conflicting results from the different studies or the absence of sufficiently comprehensive studies.[3] A subsequent study by Dimitrov et al. in 2016 produced more resolved cladograms; their maximum likelihood cladogram based on the analysis of their entire dataset is shown below. Some of their other analyses produced different results; for example, a Bayesian analysis produced a monophyletic Anapidae rather than splitting it into two clades. They concluded that "the amount of information available to resolve these families is limited, particularly at the interfamilial and deeper levels. Only some of the interfamilial groupings ... were recovered with high support." One clade which is well supported is (Mimetidae + (Arkyidae + Tetragnathidae)).[2] Both Hormiga and Griswold and Dimitrov et al. conclude that the sister taxon of Araneoidea is Nicodamidae s.l. (which Dimitrov et al. split into two families and call Nicodamoidea).

Hormiga & Griswold (2014)[1]	Dimitrov et al. (2016)[2]
Nicodamidae Araneoidea Holarchaeidae Pararchaeidae Malkaridae Araneidae Nephilidae Tetragnathidae Mimetidae Linyphiidae Pimoidae Theridiidae Nesticidae Synotaxidae Cyatholipidae Synaphridae Theridiosomatidae Mysmenidae Anapidae (including Micropholcommatidae) Symphytognathidae	Nicodamoidea Megadictynidae Nicodamidae Araneoidea Anapidae I (incl. Micropholcommatidae, Holarchaeidae) Theridiidae Theridiosomatidae Synotaxidae Araneidae (including Nephilidae) Nesticidae Synaphridae Symphytognathidae Anapidae II Cyatholipidae Physoglenidae Pimoidae + Linyphiidae Mysmenidae Malkaridae (incl. Pararchaeidae) Mimetidae Arkyidae Tetragnathidae

It is likely that relationships will change further when more studies are carried out, since "currently available molecular and morphological data are insufficient to robustly resolve relationships".[4]
Included families

Hormiga & Griswold (2014)[1]	Dimitrov et al. (2016)[2]
Nicodamidae Araneoidea Holarchaeidae Pararchaeidae Malkaridae Araneidae Nephilidae Tetragnathidae Mimetidae Linyphiidae Pimoidae Theridiidae Nesticidae Synotaxidae Cyatholipidae Synaphridae Theridiosomatidae Mysmenidae Anapidae (including Micropholcommatidae) Symphytognathidae	Nicodamoidea Megadictynidae Nicodamidae Araneoidea Anapidae I (incl. Micropholcommatidae, Holarchaeidae) Theridiidae Theridiosomatidae Synotaxidae Araneidae (including Nephilidae) Nesticidae Synaphridae Symphytognathidae Anapidae II Cyatholipidae Physoglenidae Pimoidae + Linyphiidae Mysmenidae Malkaridae (incl. Pararchaeidae) Mimetidae Arkyidae Tetragnathidae

After Dimitrov et al. 2016^[2]

• Anapidae
• Theridiidae
• Theridiosomatidae
• Synotaxidae
• Araneidae
• Nesticidae
• Synaphridae
• Symphytognathidae
• Cyatholipidae
• Physoglenidae
• Pimoidae
• Linyphiidae
• Mysmenidae
• Malkaridae
• Mimetidae
• Arkyidae
• Tetragnathidae

Extinct families

After Dunlop et al. 2013^[5] and Magalhaes et al. 2020^[6]

• †Baltsuccinidae
• †Burmascutidae
• †Cretamysmenidae
• †Juraraneidae
• †Leviunguidae
• †Praetheridiidae
• †Protheridiidae
• †Pumiliopimoidae
• †Zarqaraneidae

References

Hormiga, Gustavo & Griswold, Charles E. (2014), "Systematics, Phylogeny, and Evolution of Orb-Weaving Spiders", Annual Review of Entomology, 59 (1): 487–512, doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-011613-162046, PMID 24160416
Dimitrov, Dimitar; Benavides, Ligia R.; Arnedo, Miquel A.; Giribet, Gonzalo; Griswold, Charles E.; Scharff, Nikolaj & Hormiga, Gustavo (2016), "Rounding up the usual suspects: a standard target-gene approach for resolving the interfamilial phylogenetic relationships of ecribellate orb-weaving spiders with a new family-rank classification (Araneae, Araneoidea)" (PDF), Cladistics, doi:10.1111/cla.12165, retrieved 2016-10-18
Hormiga & Griswold (2014), p. 493
Hormiga & Griswold (2014), p. 505
J. A. Dunlop, D. Penney, and D. Jekel. 2013. A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives. In N. Platnick (ed.), The World Spider Catalog, version 14.0. American Museum of Natural History
Magalhaes, Ivan L. F.; Azevedo, Guilherme H. F.; Michalik, Peter; Ramírez, Martín J. (2019-11-12). "The fossil record of spiders revisited: implications for calibrating trees and evidence for a major faunal turnover since the Mesozoic". Biological Reviews. 95 (1): 184–217. doi:10.1111/brv.12559. ISSN 1464-7931.