Macrothelidae
| Macrothelidae Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Female Macrothele gigas | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Clade: | Avicularioidea |
| Family: | Macrothelidae Simon, 1892[1] |
| Genera | |
|
7, see text | |
| blue: reported countries (WSC) green: observation hotspots (iNaturalist) | |
Macrothelidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders, split off from the family Hexathelidae in 2018. It contains extant genera[1], and the extinct Promacrothele.[2]
Genera
As of January 2026, this family includes seven genera and 56 species:[1]
- Bannathele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China
- Gigathele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China, Japan, Taiwan
- Macrothele Ausserer, 1871 – Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Algeria, Morocco, Asia, Greece, Portugal, Spain
- Microthele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China
- Orientothele Mirza, Sanap & Kunte, 2017 – China, India
- Spinathele Shao, Zhou & Lin, 2025 – China, Taiwan, Laos
- Vacrothele Tang & Yang, 2022 – China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Extinct
- Promacrothele Burmese amber, Myanmar, mid Cretaceous.
References
- ^ a b c "Family Macrothelidae Simon, 1892". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
- ^ Tang, Ya-Ni; Peng, An-Cheng; Wu, Zi-Ying; Engel, Michael S.; Yang, Zi-Zhong; Liu, Yu (July 2023). "Mygalomorph spiders in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber (Araneae: Mygalomorphae), northern Myanmar: A new genus and species of the family Macrothelidae". Cretaceous Research. 147 105514. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105514.
Further reading
- Tang, Ya-Ni; Wu, Ya-Ying; Zhao, Yu; Yang, Zi-Zhong (2022-04-13). "Description of a new genus and two new species of the funnel-web mygalomorph (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Macrothelidae) from China with notes on taxonomic amendments". Zootaxa. 5125 (5): 513–535. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5125.5.3. ISSN 1175-5334.
External links