TETRAGNATHIDAE

Álvarez-Padilla, Fernando, 2007, Systematics of the spider genus Metabus O. P. - Cambridge, 1899 (Araneoidea: Tetragnathidae) with additions to the tetragnathid fauna of Chile and comments on the phylogeny of Tetragnathidae, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151 (2), pp. 285-335 : 288

TETRAGNATHIDAE

Supporting the monophyly of this family are the loss of the median apophysis (61-1), the conductor wrapping and coiling with the embolus (62-1), the conductor origin on the ventral margin of the tegulum, found in all nephilines, except Phonognatha Simon, 1894 and ‘leucaugines’ (63-1), and the flattened epigynal plate (90-4). The first two synapomorphies were reported and tested in previous studies ( Coddington, 1990; Hormiga et al., 1995; Scharff & Coddington, 1997; Griswold et al., 1998), and the last two synapomorphies are new for the family.