Order Araneae Rank Superfamily | ||
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Palpimanoidea or palpimanoids are a group of araneomorph spiders, originally treated as a superfamily. As with many such groups, its circumscription has varied. As of October 2015, the following five families were included:
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 them in Araneoidea.
The Palpimanoidea (together with the Dionycha) are the only spider group with no cribellate members.
Phylogeny
A 2012 phylogenetic analysis, based on both molecular and morphological data, suggested the following relationship between the families comprising the Palpimanoidea, although only one species each was included for three of the families: