Amaurobiidae

The Amaurobiidae are three-clawed cribellate or ecribellate spiders found in most parts of the world and difficult to distinguish from related spiders in other families, especially Agelenidae, Desidae and Amphinectidae. Their intra- and interfamilial relationships are contentious. In Spider Families of the World, 2007, they were represented by 69 genera and about 640 species in 5 subfamilies.

In Australia they are small to medium-sized entelgyne spiders with generous sheet webs across the floor of rainforests. They generally have eight similar eyes in two conservatively curved rows. They often have a calamistrum on metatarsus IV associated with a cribellum. Australian Amaurobiids may be distinguished from Amphinectidae by the absence of a pre-tarsal fracture and the presence of a retrocoxal hymen on coxa I.