Pycnothelidae

Pycnothelidae
Acanthogonatus pissii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Mygalomorphae
Clade:	Avicularioidea
Family:	Pycnothelidae Chamberlin, 1917
Diversity[1]
15 genera, 139 species

Pycnothelidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders first described in 1917.^[2] It was downgraded to a subfamily of the funnel-web trapdoor spiders in 1985,^[3] but returned to family status in 2020.^[4]

Distribution

The majority of genera are found in South America, with two genera from East and southern Africa.

Genera

• 
  captive Acanthognatus francki
• 
  Pycnothele rubra from Brazil
• 
  Stanwellia sp. from Australia
• 
  S. platensis

As of September 2025^[update], this family includes fifteen genera.^[1]

South American genera:

• Acanthogonatus Karsch, 1880 – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay
• Chaco Tullgren, 1905 — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
• Chilelopsis Goloboff, 1995 — Chile
• Longistylus Indicatti & Lucas, 2005 — Brazil
• Lycinus Thorell, 1894 — Argentina, Brazil, Chile
• Prorachias Mello-Leitão, 1924 — Brazil
• Psalistopoides Mello-Leitão, 1934 — Brazil
• Pselligmus Simon, 1892 — Brazil
• Pycnothele Chamberlin, 1917 – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
• Rachias Simon, 1892 — Argentina, Brazil
• Stanwellia Rainbow & Pulleine, 1918 – Australia, New Zealand
• Stenoterommata Holmberg, 1881 – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
• Xenonemesia Goloboff, 1989 — Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay

African genera:

• Afromygale Zonstein, 2020 – Kenya, Tanzania
• Pionothele Purcell, 1902 – South Africa, Namibia

References

1. "Family Pycnothelidae". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
2. Chamberlin, R. V. (1917). "New spiders of the family Aviculariidae". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 61: 25–75.
3. Raven, R. J. (1985). "The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): Cladistics and systematics". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 182: 86.
4. Opatova, V.; et al. (2020). "Phylogenetic systematics and evolution of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae using genomic scale data". Systematic Biology. 69 (4): 701–702. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz064. PMID 31841157.