World Spider Catalog

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).

In synonymy:

Bion O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898 = Witica O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895 (Simon, 1903a: 1003)

Physiola Simon, 1895 = Witica O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895 (Simon, 1898a: 207)

Salassia Gétaz, 1893 = Witica O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895 (Simon, 1895a: 784, sub Salassina, confirmed by Levi, 1986b: 37)

Salassina Simon, 1895 = Witica O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895 (Levi, 1986b: 37)

Gen. Witica O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895 urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:01576

N.B.: considered a senior synonym of Physiola Simon, 1895a: 784 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:05547] (type P. nigrans Simon, 1895 = Witica crassicauda (Keyserling, 1865)) by Simon, 1898a: 207, of Bion brevis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898a: 244 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:06047] (type B. brevis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898 = Witica crassicauda (Keyserling, 1865)) by Simon, 1903a: 1003 and of Salassina Simon, 1895a: 784 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:05316] (type Epeira crassicauda Keyserling, 1865) by Levi, 1986b: 37 (removed from the synonymy with Edricus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1890); Salassina was considered a junior synonym of Salassia Gétaz, 1893: 105 [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidergen:05546] (type S. tricuspis Gétaz, 1893 = Witica crassicauda (Keyserling, 1865) and preoccupied in Gastropoda by Folin, 1871) by Simon, 1895a: 784.

In synonymy:

Witica brevis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898, T from Bion) = Witica crassicauda Keyserling, 1865 (Simon, 1903a: 1003, sub W. talis)

Witica nigrans (Simon, 1895) = Witica crassicauda Keyserling, 1865 (Simon, 1903a: 1003, sub W. talis)

Witica talis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895 = Witica crassicauda Keyserling, 1865 (Levi, 1986b: 41)

Witica tricuspis (Gétaz, 1893, T from Edricus) = Witica crassicauda Keyserling, 1865 (Levi, 1986b: 41)

Nomen dubium:

Witica alobatus (Franganillo, 1931b: 44, f, Cuba, originally in Salassina) -- Alayón & Sherwood, 2022: 610

Witica cayanus (Taczanowski, 1873) | | Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:017146

Epeira cayana Taczanowski, 1873: 135, pl. 5, f. 15 (Df) Original description

Edricus cayana Roewer, 1942a: 762

Witica cayana Levi, 1986b: 44, f. 6-7, 13-15 (Tf from Edricus, Dm)

Witica cayanus Cabra-García & Hormiga, 2020: 1040, f. 48B, 55B, 105C-D (f)

Witica crassicauda (Keyserling, 1865) | | Mexico to Peru urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:017147

Epeira crassicauda Keyserling, 1865: 806, pl. 18, f. 3-4 (Df) [N.B.: crassicauda is not an adjective] Original description

Salassia tricuspis Gétaz, 1893: 105 (Df) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:054688]

Cyclosa crassicauda Keyserling, 1893: 270, pl. 14, f. 200 (f)

Witica talis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895a: 160, pl. 16, f. 13 (Dm) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:054687]

Salassina crassicauda Simon, 1895a: 784, f. 853 (f)

Physiola nigrans Simon, 1895a: 876, f. 938-939 (Dmf) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:058447]

Bion brevis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898a: 244, pl. 30, f. 5 (Dm) [urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:058448]

Vitica thalis Simon, 1903a: 1003 (lapsus, S of Bion brevis and Physiola = Witica nigrans)

Edricus crassicauda F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904: 500, pl. 47, f. 21 (f)

Edricus tricuspis F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904: 500

Edricus tricuspis Banks, 1914a: 678, pl. 30, f. 23 (f)

Edricus crassicauda Petrunkevitch, 1930a: 318, f. 192-193 (f)

Witica thalis Petrunkevitch, 1930a: 337, f. 225-226 (m, lapsus)

Witica crassicauda Levi, 1986b: 41, f. 1-5, 8-12, 16-17 (mf, T from Edricus, S of Edricus tricuspis and Witica talis)

Witica crassicauda Levi, 2002: 537, f. 51-52, 245-246 (mf)