THE EVOLUTION AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF TH E （的进化和生物地理学TH E）.pdf

Raven, R . J . 1980 . The evolution and biogeography of the mygalomorph spider family Hexathelidae (Araneae, Chelicerata) . J . Arachnol., 8 :251-266 . THE EVOLUTION AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF TH E MYGALOMORPH SPIDER FAMILY HEXATHELIDA E (ARANEAE, CHELICERATA ) Robert J . Rave n Queensland Museum Gregory Terrace, Fortitude Valley, Queenslan d ABSTRAC T The family Hexathelidae is newly erected . Three subfamilies are recognized : Plesiothelinae, for the monotypic Tasmanian genus Plesiothele ; Macrothelinae, confined to Macrothele, Porrhothele and Atrax ; and the Hexathelinae include Hexathele, Scotinoecus, Bymainiella, Paraembolides, gen . nov . and Terania, gen . nov . The synapomorphic character required for group membership is numerou s labial cuspules . Using the size of the anterior lateral spinnerets, the development of megaspines on th e first tibia of males, the paraembolic apophysis, and shape of the labium and other characters, th e evolution of subfamilies, genera and some species is discussed using Hennigian principles . A biogeo- graphic hypothesis is proposed using the vicariance events of Plate Tectonic theory . The sister group of the Hexathelidae is the Dipluridae, and the sister group of both is the Mecicobothriidae . The subfamily Ischnothelinae is erected to receive those genera of the traditional Macrothelinae that have no labia l cuspules . INTRODUCTION The Mygalomorphae are an important group of spiders that have been neglected in discussions of evolution and biogeography . They are important as they possess feature s widely regarded as plesiomorphic in spiders, and they give a major perspective to evolu- tionary hypo