Family AMPHINECTIDAE Forster & Wilton, 1973

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Introduction

The Amphinectidae are small to large-sized entelegyne spiders that hunt in the litter. The Amphinectidae were excised from the Amaurobiidae.

Diagnosis

The Amphinectidae are medium-sized to large entelegyne spiders that hunt in the leaf litter. As with many families in Australia, the boundaries of the Amphinectidae are unclear as the genera merge into those often included in the Amaurobiidae. They differ from the Amaurobiidae in the presence of a fine crack across the distal tarsal (pre-tarsal fracture) and the absence of an unsclerotised spot on the retrolateral face of coxa I (retrocoxal hymen). As with the Amaurobiidae, their eyes are in two conservatively curved rows.

History of changes