Araneidae Clerck, 1757

Family |   ACCEPTED
N.B.: family name and authorship as per ICZN, 2009 Opinion 2224, after application by Kluge, 2007; Arkyinae L. Koch, 1872 (genera Arkys Walckenaer, 1837 and Demadiana Strand, 1929) elevated to Arkyidae by Dimitrov et al., 2017: 244; monophyly of Araneidae stated by Kallal et al., 2018: 138; Nephilinae Simon, 1894 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spiderfam:0111] elevated to family and relimited by Kuntner, 2006: 24, re-synonymized with Araneidae by Dimitrov et al., 2017: 244; Nephilinae and Phonognathinae Simon, 1894 (Simon, 1894a: 746 as Phonognatheae), the valid name for Zygiellinae Simon, 1929 sensu Wunderlich, 2004f, elevated to family by Kuntner et al., 2019: 563, not accepted by Scharff et al., 2020 and Kallal et al., 2020, and confirmed as family by Kuntner et al., 2023: 969-970 along with the separation of Paraplectanoididae Kuntner, Coddington, Agnarsson & Bond, 2023 (with the single genus Paraplectanoides Keyserling, 1886); Nephilinae and Phonognathinae downgraded to subfamily and Paraplectanoididae considered a synonym of Araneidae by Hormiga et al., 2023: 803; Oarcinae (Gnolus and Oarces) transferred from the Mimitidae to the Araneidae by Dimitrov et al., 2012: Suppl. 1, p. 15, re-transfer to the Mimetidae by Eskov & Marusik, 2023: 340 not accepted here (by majority vote of the WSC boards).
Gen. Afracantha Dahl, 1914 urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:01430
N.B.: described as a subgenus of Gasteracantha Sundevall, 1833; elevated to genus by Emerit, 1974: 29.

In synonymy:

Afracantha batesi (Pocock, 1900, T from Gasteracantha) = Afracantha camerunensis Thorell, 1899 (Benoit, 1962a: 25, sub Isoxya )

Afracantha camerunensis (Thorell, 1899) | | Cameroon, DR Congo, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Eswatini urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:014466
Gasteracantha brevispina camerunensis Thorell, 1899: 65 (Df) Original description
Gasteracantha batesi Pocock, 1900g: 858, pl. 56, f. 10 (Df) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:060880]
Gasteracantha batesi Dahl, 1914: 252, f. 7 (f, S of Gasteracantha brevispina camerunensis)
Isoxya camerunensis Benoit, 1962a: 25, f. 18 (f, T from Gasteracantha, removed from S of Gasteracantha batesi, rejecting Dahl, 1914: 252, S of Gasteracantha batesi)
Afracantha camerunensis Emerit, 1974: 29 (T from Isoxya)
Gasteracantha camerunensis Levi, 1996b: 143, f. 313-321 (f)
Afracantha camerunensis Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2022d: 11, p. 10: 4 unnumbered f., p. 11: 7 unnumbered f. f (f)

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