Argyronetidae Thorell, 1869

Montana, Katherine O., Cala-Riquelme, Franklyn, Crews, Sarah C., Gorneau, Jacob A., Al-Jamal, Amin M., Alequín, Luigie D., Spagna, Joseph C., Ballarin, Francesco & Esposito, Lauren A., 2025, Tailor’s drawer no more: a reappraisal of the spider family Dictynidae O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871 sensu lato, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (2) : -

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf007
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DA550AD-E3D9-48BE-B0B9-270ED374BCDF
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/345487DC-FF8F-FFF6-EAF2-BE79ADD56936
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Argyronetidae Thorell, 1869
status

Treatment

Family Argyronetidae Thorell, 1869 , stat. reinst.

Type genus: Argyroneta Latreille, 1804 : Araneus aquaticus Clerck, 1757 , currently Argyroneta aquatica (Clerck, 1757) .

Material examined: Altella lucida : Gallia (1 male, 3 females, MNHN-AR-AR441). Argenna obesa : USA, Massachusetts, Essex Co., Ipswich. (1 male, 2 females, MNHN-AR-AR450). USA, Alaska, Lake at Explorer Glacier near portage, 22.vii.1978, Coll. P.H. Arnaud (1 female CASENT8413341 ) . USA, Arkansas, Mississippi Co. , 15.i.1966, Coll. MX (1 female, CASENT8413351 ) . USA, Massachusetts, Plum Island , pre-1911 publication date, Coll. James H. Emerton (Syntype, 1 female, MCZ-IZ22345 ) . Argenna prominula : USA, Colorado, Virginia Basin, Elk Mts. , 11 500–12 000 ft., 3.vii.1957, Coll. Herbert W. Levi, Lorna R. Levi (Paratype, 1 female, MCZ-IZ24836 ) . Arctella lapponica Holm, 1945 : Russia, Yakutia, North Yakutia, Yana River downflow, Kular Vill. , 1.vii.1996, Coll. N.N. Vinokurov (1 male, CASENT8413348 ) . Chaerea maritimus : Spain, Murcia, Cartagena, Coll. E. Simon (Syntypes, 1 male, 1 female, MNHN-AR-AR446) . France, Var Department, Giens, Plage de L’Ayguade , 15.ii.2020, Coll. L. Crespo, P. Ponel (2 males, 2 females, CASENT9081477 ) . Devade indistincta : Sudan, Suakin Island ( Long Island ), 1956.ii.20, Coll. P. Strinati (Holotype, 1 female, MNHN-AR-AR483) . Saltonia incerta : USA, California, Salton , iii.1897, Coll.Henry G. Hubbard, Nathan Banks (Holotype, 1 female, MCZ-IZ21615 ) . Tricholathys hirsutipes : USA, California, Lassen Co., Susanville , 2.vii.1940, Coll. W.J. Gertsch (2 females, MNHN-AR-AR427) . USA, California, Sacramento , 27.v.1918, Coll. Helen Van Duzee (Paratype, 2 males, MCZ-IZ21553 ) .

Diagnosis: ( Figs. 40A–C, 41A–D, 42A–F) Small to large spiders [only tiny in Lathyidae fam. n. and Dictynidae s.s.] with the carapace usually longer than wide, and wider than high (flattened) ( Fig. 6A, D) [as wide as high or higher than wide in Dictynidae s.s.; Figs 6E, 7B]; AME, ALE,PLE, and PME similar in size ( Fig.6A–C, 40F) [AME usually absent ( Fig. 5D, E) or considerably smaller ( Fig. 5A, B) in Lathyidae fam. n.]; legs of both sexes, female palp, and male palpal cymbium usually with well-defined macrosetae ( Figs 23A, 24A, F) [macrosetae absent or strongly reduced ( Figs 25A, C, E, C, 26E,, 27A, E, 32F) in Lathyidae fam. n. and Dictynidae s.s.]; male palp with the conductor upper arm shorter than the lower arm, the lower conductor arm uncoiled at the tip, and with the tip usually smooth (lacking a scaly appearance) ( Figs 23B, C, F, 24A, B, E, F, 40D–F) [conductor upper arm longer than lower arm ( Figs 20A, D, 22A, C, E) and with a scaly tip ( Figs 20F) in Lathyidae fam. n.; conductor lower arm usually coiled and with scaly tip ( Figs 25B, 26C, 28C, 30A, B, 31A, 57A–D, 58A–F) in Dictynidae s.s.].

Remarks: Thorell (1870: 121, 136) designated the family Agalenoidae (= Agelenidae ) to include the subfamilies Amaurobiinae, Agaleninae, and Argyronetinae with the genus Argyroneta as follows: ‘ Argyroneta aquatica seems to me to deserve to be taken as the type of a separate sub-family, as well on account of its peculiar habits, as of the structure of its respiratory organs’. Menge (1871: 293) elevated Argyronetinae to the rank of family, with this taxonomy followed by Dahl (1937: 115–7). After, several arachnologists accepted the use of Argyronetidae ( Reimoser 1919, Kishida 1930, Petrunkevitch 1939, Roewer 1942, Kaston 1948, Bonnet 1955, Yaginuma 1955, Komatsu 1961, Ono 2009, Murphy and Roberts 2015), whereas others no longer considered Argyronetidae to be a valid rank (Berland 1932, Saito 1941, Gertsch 1949, Millot 1949, Locket and Millidge 1953, Grothendieck and Kraus 1994, Wheeler et al. 2017). Miller et al. (2010), Spagna et al. (2010), and Wheeler et al. (2017) found evidence to support Argyroneta as a member of Dictynidae s.l .. Crews et al. (2020), using Sanger loci, and Gorneau et al. (2023a), using UCE and Sanger data, recovered Argyroneta with other ecribellates ( Fig. 11C), resulting in a morphologically coherent group.

List of included genera: Altella Simon, 1884 ; Arctella Holm, 1945 ; Argenna Thorell, 1870 ; Argyroneta Latreille, 1804 ; Chaerea Simon, 1884 ; Devade Simon, 1884 ; Hackmania Lehtinen, 1967 ; Iviella Lehtinen, 1967 ; Mizaga Simon, 1898 ; Paratheuma Bryant, 1940 ; Saltonia Chamberlin and Ivie, 1942 ; and Tricholathys Chamberlin and Ivie, 1935 .

Family Lathyidae Cala-Riquelme , Montana, Crews, Esposito fam. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8BBD8958-0267-43EF-9FF6-3CCA9A0E6EC1 .

Type genus: Lathys Simon, 1884 : Lethia varia Menge, 1869 , currently Lathys humilis (Blackwall, 1855) .

Material examined: See the material examined for genera.

Diagnosis: Small, cribellate spiders ( Figs 8A, 10A, B, 11B) with the carapace low or of moderate height, with the clypeus narrow ( Figs 5A–E, 32A, 33A, 36A, 38A) ( Chamberlin and Gertsch 1958); AME usually narrower than ALE, PME, and PLE ( Fig. 5A, B) or absent ( Fig. 5D, E) (present and as wide as ALE, PME, and PLE in Argyronetidae stat. reinst. and Dictynidae s.s.); ALE, PME, and PLE subequal in size and sub-equidistantly spaced ( Figs 32A, 33A, 36A, 38A); chelicerae rather short, moderately stout, without basal enlargements or spurs ( Fig. 5A, C–F); male palp with the conductor upper arm usually longer than the lower arm ( Figs 20A, D, 21B, 22A, C, D) (conductor upper arm shorter than lower arm in Argyronetidae stat. reinst.); conductor lower arm usually directed dorsally ( Figs 20A, 32F, 34E; Marusik et al. 2009: figs 43, 45, 46) (ventrally in Argyronetidae stat. reinst. and Dictynidae s.s.), and locked by a mechanism that comprises a longitudinal furrow, RTA, and hook-shaped tibial process ( Figs 20C, 21D, 22E, F; 32F) (tibial lock mechanism absent in Argyronetidae stat. reinst. and Dictynidae s.s.); embolus coiled more than 150 degree but not more than 1200° ( Figs 20D, 32E, F, 34D, E) (coiled ≤720° in Argyronetidae stat. reinst. and Dictynidae s.s.); epigyne with the primary spermathecae two or more times wider than the copulatory duct width ( Figs 13C–F, 33E, F, 37D); copulatory duct well developed ( Figs 13C–F, 33E, F), usually many times longer than the primary spermathecae width and coiled between the membranous sac and the SS/AG ( Fig. 13C, D), or as long as primary spermathecae ( Fig. 37D).

Remarks: Wheeler et al. (2017) recovered Lathys close to Dictynidae s.l. but with very low support. Crews et al. (2020), using denser sampling, recovered Lathys as more distantly related to Dictynidae s.l., and as in Wheeler et al. (2017), the position of Lathys was weakly supported. Gorneau et al. (2023a) using UCEs + Sanger loci recovered Lathys as closely related to Dictynidae s.l. with high support; however, the deep phylogenetic divergence and observed diversity indicate that it should be treated as a separate family (see: Gorneau et al. 2023a). The subfamily Lathysinae proposed by Gorneau et al. (2023a) was unavailable following ICZN article 16 (see: ICZN 1999, article 16). We propose Lathyidae fam. n. [Type genus Lathys Simon, 1884 : Lethia varia Menge, 1869 = Lathys humilis (Blackwall, 1855) ] based on the synapomorphies of the male palp, the eye configuration, and the morphology of the epigyne.