Gnaphosidae

Breitling, Rainer, 2021, A completely resolved phylogenetic tree of British spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), Ecologica Montenegrina 46, pp. 1-51 : 9-19

Gnaphosidae (and Micariidae sensu Mikhailov & Fet 1986 )

The results of Wheeler et al. (2017) show that morphological data have so far failed to converge on a stable and reliable phylogenetic reconstruction for Gnaphosoidea. Recent morphological analyses by Rodrigues & Rheims (2020) and Azevedo et al. (2018) show fundamental differences compared to the molecular analysis presented by Wheeler et al. (2017). For example, the morphological analyses place Prodidomidae deep within Gnaphosidae ; a placement that the molecular data contradict with strong support. On the other hand, in the molecular analysis, traditional Gnaphosidae are highly polyphyletic.

At this point, a conservative tree will largely follow the morphological results and traditional arrangements. The morphological analyses do not fully resolve the relationship between the subfamilies Gnaphosinae , Zelotinae, and Drassodinae. The preferred arrangement at this level is based on the molecular data.

The placement of Urozelotes in the tree is tentative; it could with similar justification be placed as sister to Drassyllus + Trachyzelotes , rather than Zelotes . The internal structure of Drassodes , Drassyllus , Haplodrassus and Zelotes is based on a combination of morphological similarities and barcode data. In the case of Haplodrassus , the placement of H. minor and the deeper branches are ambiguous. The relationships within Gnaphosa are based on morphological similarities only.

Micariidae are here treated as a separate family (stat. rev.), sister to Cithaeronidae , based on the results in Azevedo et al. (2018) and Rodrigues & Rheims (2020). This separation seems justified given the long-standing debate about the placement of Micaria , which often was included in Clubionidae instead of Gnaphosidae . Given the chaotic results for Gnaphosidae in Wheeler et al., this preference is obviously only weakly supported. The internal structure of the tree for the genus Micaria follows Breitling (2017). The placement of M. albovittata is based on Wunderlich’s inclusion of the species (sub M. romana ) in the pulicaria group ( Wunderlich 1980). The placement of M. silesiaca is based on its inclusion in the silesiaca group ( Wunderlich 1980).