The Palpimanoidea

This is a guide to the diverse yet poorly studied five-family group, the Palpimanoidea. These entelegyne spiders were previously considered haplogyne until recent revisions. They are characterized by the peg teeth on their chelicerae. Palpimanoids are located on every continent but Antarctica.

The taxonomic relationship of palpimanoids has been very difficult to construct for arachnologists. Molecular data has placed the stenochilids with archaeids, but morphological data places them with the palpimanids. It is a fact that the placement of palpimanids and stenochilids together rather than stenochilids with archaeids is more logical. Huttoniids are considered closer relatives to palpimanids and stenochilids than mecysmaucheniids and archaeids. Thus, the following list consisting of the five families should be considered:

|--- Palpimanidae
|--- Stenochilidae
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|-- Huttoniidae
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|--- Mecysmaucheniidae
|--- Archaeidae

The huttoniids aren't closer relatives to palpimanids than stenochilids, but they are closer relatives to them than the mecysmaucheniids and archaeids. However, they are still not in the same group. The raised carapaces and elongated chelicerae of mecysmaucheniids and archaeids groups them together. The palpimanids, stenochilids, and huttoniids instead possess special pads or rows of setae/hairs called scopulae.

The palpimanoids have been called "assassin spiders" due to the fact that many species feed primarily or exclusively on other spiders. The elongated chelicerae seem to work very well as do the scopulae for tight grasping. less ↑