A Review of the Relationships of Australian Funnel-Web Spiders with a New Species of Funnel-Web Spider from Far North-Eastern Tasmania (Hexathelidae: Atracinae: Araneae)
Abstract
A new species of funnel-web spider, Hadronyche
simonfearni, is described from far north-eastern
Tasmania. The family status is reviewed.
Shortcomings including misidentifications and
absence of supporting procedures in molecular
analyses placing Atracidae as sister group to
the Actinopodidae are identified and solutions
proposed. The use of unanalysed venom data
of the Atracidae in proposing relationship is
rejected. The diagnoses of Macrothelidae and
Porrhothelidae, as well as that of the Atracidae
are rejected as non-diagnostic. They are the
closest relatives to each other, as shown by
repeated morphological analyses, with further
doubt being cast upon limited molecular
analyses through misidentifications. The
Atracinae are replaced in the Hexathelidae and
the Macrothelidae and Porrhothelidae placed
in the Macrothelinae, also in the Hexathelidae.
New genera and a subgenus proposed by Hoser
(2017) are rejected.
Raven, R. J. & Douglas, J. C. (2025). A review of the relationships of Australian funnel-web spiders with a new species of funnel-web spider from far north-eastern Tasmania (Hexathelidae: Atracinae: Araneae). Record of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery 122: 1-16.
