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Orbiculariae

Jonathan Coddington
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taxon links [up-->]Araneidae [up-->]Synaphridae [up-->]Synotaxidae [up-->]Theridiidae [up-->]Theridiosomatidae [up-->]Linyphiidae [up-->]Pimoidae [up-->]Cyatholipidae [up-->]Uloboridae [up-->]Mysmenidae [up-->]Nesticidae [up-->]Tetragnathidae [up-->]Symphytognathidae [up-->]Deinopidae [up-->]Anapidae [down<--]Entelegynae Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

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Tree based on Griswold et al. 1998, modified after Lopardo and Hormiga 2008.

Containing group: Entelegynae

References

Agnarsson, I. 2004. Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 141:447-626.

Coddington, J.A. 2005. Phylogeny and Classification of Spiders. In D. Ubick, P. Paquin, P. E. Cushing, and V. Roth (eds.) Spiders of North America: an identification manual, American Arachnological Society. 377 pages. Chapter 2, pp. 18-24.

Coddington, J. A. and H. W. Levi. 1991. Systematics and evolution of spiders (Araneae). Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 22:565-592.

Forster, R.R., N.I. Platnick & J. Coddington. 1990. A proposal and review of the spider family Synotaxidae (Araneae, Araneoidea), with notes on theridiid interrelationships. Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural History 1-116.

Griswold, C.E. 2001. A monograph of the living world genera and Afrotropical species of cyatholipid spiders (Araneae, Orbiculariae, Araneoidea, Cyatholipidae). Mem. Calif. Acad. Sci. 26:1-251.

Griswold, C. E., J. A. Coddington, G. Hormiga, and N. Scharff. 1998. Phylogeny of the orb-web building spiders (Araneae, Orbiculariae: Deinopoidea, Araneoidea). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 123:1-99.

Foelix, R.F. 1996. Biology of Spiders. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. 330pp.

Jocqué, R. & A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman. 2006. Spider Families of the World. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tevuren. 336pp.

Hormiga, G., N. Scharff, and J. A. Coddington. 2000. The phylogenetic basis of sexual size dimorphism in orb-weaving spiders (Araneae, Orbiculariae). Systematic Biology 49:435-462.

Kuntner, M., 2005. A revision of Herennia (Araneae, Nephilidae, Nephilinae), the Australasian ‘coin spiders’. Invert. Syst. 19, 391–436.

Kuntner, M., 2006. Nephilidae.com: A web resource for nephilid spiders (Araneae, Araneoidea, Nephilidae), version 1.0. http://www.nephilidae.com/.

Lopardo, L. and G. Hormiga. 2008. Phylogenetic placement of the Tasmanian spider Acrobleps hygrophilus (Araneae, Anapidae) with comments on the evolution of the capture web in Araneoidea. Cladistics 24(1):1-33. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2007.00173.x

Opell, B.D. 1979. Revision of the genera and tropical American species of the spider family Uloboridae. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 148:443-549.

Platnick, N.I. 2006. The World Spider Catalog, Version 7.0. http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/INTRO1.html.

Scharff, N. and J. A. Coddington. 1997. A phylogenetic analysis of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 120:355-434.

Schütt, K. 2003. Phylogeny of Symphytognathidae s.l. (Araneae, Araneoidea). Zoologica Scripta 32(2):129-151.

Ubick, D., P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing & V.D. Roth. 2005. Spiders of North America: an identification manual. American Arachnological Society, 377pp.

Information on the Internet

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Nephila maculata
Location Taiwan
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Sex Female
Source 070729 台東 綠島 人面蜘蛛 (雌蟲) Nephila maculata (Fabricius) (Female)
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2007 Shipher (士緯) Wu (吳)
Scientific Name Araneus bicentenarius
Location USA
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Jonathan Coddington
Sex Female
Life Cycle Stage adult
Body Part face
View anterior view
Size photo ca. 5mm across.
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © Jonathan Coddington
Scientific Name Latrodectus curacaviensis
Location Bahia (Brazil)
Comments South American widow spider
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Collection CalPhotos
Copyright © 1994
About This Page

Jonathan Coddington
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., USA

All Rights Reserved.

Citing this page:

Coddington, Jonathan. 2009. Orbiculariae. Version 23 January 2009 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Orbiculariae/2698/2009.01.23 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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