Lepthyphantinae Simon, 1929

Silva-Moreira, Thiago Da, Kulkarni, Siddharth & Hormiga, Gustavo, 2025, A total evidence phylogenetic analysis of the spider family Linyphiidae (Araneae, Araneoidea), Zootaxa 5685 (1), pp. 1-78 : 60

Subfamily Lepthyphantinae Simon, 1929 new circumscription

Linyphiini [ad partem] Simon, 1984,

Lepthyphantes [ad partem] Petrunkevitch 1928,

Linyphiinae [ad partem] Locket & Millidge 1953,

Leptyphantae Wiehle 1956,

Syedrulae Merrett 1963, 1965 [ad partem],

Lepthyphantinae Millidge 1984, I983,

Type genus: Lepthyphantes Menge, 1866 .

Diagnosis: Male members of the subfamily Lepthyphantinae are diagnosed by the presence of a special seta on the patella of the palp (Roberts 1987, figs 72B, 75A–B, 77C; Hormiga 1994b, fig. 12A), a paracymbium of about the same size as the rest of the cymbium, with a distal apophysis or process ( Hormiga 1994b, figs 12A, 13A), and a sperm duct switchback ( Hormiga 1994b, fig. 12C), while females have an epigynum with a ventral plate scape (Roberts 1987, figs 75A–D).

N.B. The taxonomic history and composition of Lepthyphantinae are intermingled with that of Micronetinae , most obviously expressed in the re-delimitation of the latter subfamily by the detailed studies of Saaristo & Tanasevitch (1996), which included Lepthyphantes and allied genera in their circumscription of Micronetinae . Our phylogenetic analyses conclude that Lepthyphantes and Microneta belong to different clades, and thus Micronetinae sensu Saaristo & Tanasevitch (1996) is not monophyletic. Resolving monophyletic groups to which the Linnaean labels ‘Lepthyphantinae’ and ‘Micronetinae’ can be applied entails significant changes in their circumscription. As noted, the classification proposal presented here is limited by the taxa included in our analyses. Additional work is required to address all the genera that had been formerly classified under Micronetinae .

Composition: As re-circumscribed here, the composition of this subfamily is similar to Saaristo’s (1975) Lepthyphantinae , Millidge’s (1977) Lepthyphantes group + Oreonetide s group [partim], Micronetinae (Saaristo & Tanasevitch, 1996) [partim], Clade A in Arnedo et al. (20009), and Clade A in Wang et al. (2015). In addition to the type genus, Lepthyphantinae is represented in our study by the following genera: Acanthoneta Eskov & Marusik , Anguliphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch , Arcuphantes Chamberlin & Ivie , Bifurcia Saaristo, Tu & Li , Bolyphantes Koch , Crispiphantes Tanasevitch , Denisiphantes Tu, Li & Rollard , Drapetisca Menge , Eldonnia Tanasevitch , Floronia Simon , Fusciphantes Oi , Himalaphantes Tanasevitch , Incestophantes Tanasevitch , Ipa Saaristo , Lidia Saaristo & Marusik , Macrargus Dahl , Mughiphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch , Nippononeta Eskov , Oryphantes Hull , Parawubanoides Eskov & Marusik , Poeciloneta Kulczyński , Syedra Simon , Tapinopa Westring , Tenuiphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch , Ternatus Sun, Li & Tu , Vagiphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch , and Wubanoides Eskov ( Table 8).