Family ARANEIDAE Simon, 1895
Introduction
The Araneidae include the most conspicuous of spiders in that they are the builders of large, often circular, webs into which we often inadvertently stumble at night. They also include genera like the Triangular Spider (genus Arkys) that hunt freely at night on Acacia trees, and the spectacular Bolas spiders (genus Ordgarius) that spin a drop of scented silk to attract their prey. The boundaries of the family are somewhat unstable and blur when the Tetragnathidae and Nephilidae are added.
Excluded Taxa
Araneidae: Lipocrea diluta Thorell, 1887, see Framenau, V.W. & Scharff, N. 2008. The orb-weaving spider genus Larinia in Australia (Araneae: Araneidae). Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny 66(2): 227-250 [243] (Larinia delicata was revalidated by Framenau & Scharff (2008), who also transferred L. tabida; thereby removing all Australian taxa from the genus Lipocrea.).
Araneidae: Acacesia tenella (L. Koch, 1871), see Framenau, V.W., Scharff, N. & Levi, H.W. 2009. Not from “Down Under”: new synonymies and combinations for orb-weaving spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) erroneously reported from Australia. Zootaxa 2073: 22-30 [23] [previously listed as Wixia tenella, transferred by Framenau et al (2009)].
Diagnosis
Araneids have thick serrated bristles (accessory claws) below the claws of legs, a rebordered labium, and a complex male palpal bulb with a paracymbium.