Phyxelididae

Lace web spiders
female Themacrys irrorata
female Vidole capensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Phyxelididae Lehtinen, 1967
Diversity
14 genera, 68 species

Phyxelididae is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Pekka T. Lehtinen in 1967 as a subfamily of Amaurobiidae, ^[1] and later elevated to family status as a sister group of Titanoecidae. ^[2]

Life style

• 
  Funnel web with funnel wedged between leaves of a wild fig
• 
  The central funnel section of the web
• 
  Female in silk tunnel

Genera

Main article: List of Phyxelididae species

• 
  female Vidole sothoana
• 
  male V. sothoana
• 
  Xevioso orthomeles

As of October 2025 ^[update] , this family includes fourteen genera: ^[3]

• Ambohima Griswold, 1990 – Madagascar
• Kulalania Griswold, 1990 – Kenya
• Lamaika Griswold, 1990 – South Africa
• Malaika Lehtinen, 1967 – South Africa
• Manampoka Griswold, Wood & Carmichael, 2012 – Madagascar
• Matundua Lehtinen, 1967 – South Africa
• Namaquarachne Griswold, 1990 – South Africa
• Phyxelida Simon, 1894 – Eastern Africa, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, Cyprus, East Africa
• Pongolania Griswold, 1990 – South Africa
• Rahavavy Griswold, Wood & Carmichael, 2012 – Madagascar
• Themacrys Simon, 1906 – Lesotho, South Africa
• Vidole Lehtinen, 1967 – Lesotho, South Africa
• Vytfutia Deeleman-Reinhold, 1986 – Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia
• Xevioso Lehtinen, 1967 – Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, South Africa, Zimbabwe

See also

• Titanoecoidea

References

1. Lehtinen, P. T. (1967). "Classification of the cribellate spiders and some allied families, with notes on the evolution of the suborder Araneomorpha". Annales Zoologici Fennici. 4: 199–468.
2. Griswold, C. E.; Coddington, J. A.; Platnick, N. I.; Forster, R. R.; et al. (1999). "Towards a phylogeny of entelegyne spiders (Araneae, Araneomorphae, Entelegynae)" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 27: 53–63.
3. "Family: Phyxelididae Lehtinen, 1967". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2025-10-09.

External links

• Citizen science observations for Phyxelididae at iNaturalist