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We complement and expand the existing descriptions of the Australian araneid spider Paraplectanoides crassipes Keyserling, 1886, and provide the first detailed analysis of the male palpal homologies to include examination of the expanded organ and scanning electron micrographs of the palpal sclerites. We study the placement of Paraplectanoides and the classification of the family Araneidae by combining ultraconserved elements with Sanger markers. We also added Sanger sequences of the Australian araneid genus Venomius to the molecular dataset of Scharff et al. (2020) to explore the phylogenetic placement and implications for classification of the family. We evaluate a recent proposal on the classification of the family Araneidae by Kuntner et al. (2023) in which a new family is erected for P. crassipes. Paraplectanoides is monotypic. Examination of the type material shows that Paraplectanoides kochi O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877 is misplaced in the genus and the name is a senior synonym of the araneid Isoxya penizoides Simon, 1887 (new synonymy) that results in the new combination Isoxya kochi (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877). The classification of Araneidae is revised and the following nomenclatural acts are introduced: Paraplectanoididae Kuntner, Coddington, Agnarsson and Bond, 2023 is a junior synonym of Araneidae Clerck, 1757 new synonymy; phonognathines and nephilines are subfamilies of Araneidae (Subfamily Phonognathinae Simon, 1894 rank resurrected; and Subfamily Nephilinae Simon, 1894 rank resurrected). The results of our analyses corroborate the sister group relationship between Paraplectanoides and the araneid subfamily Nephilinae. Venomius is sister to the Nephilinae + Paraplectanoides clade. The placement of the oarcine araneids and Venomius renders the family Araneidae non-monophyletic if this were to be circumscribed as in Kuntner et al. (2023). In light of the paucity of data that the latter study presents, and in absence of a robust, stable and more densely sampled phylogenetic analysis of Araneidae, the changes and definitions introduced by that classification are premature and could lead to a large number of new families for what once were araneid species if the maximum-crown-clade family definitions were to be used. Consequently, we argue for restoring the familial and subfamilial classification of Araneidae of Dimitrov et al. (2017), Scharff et al. (2020) and Kallal et al. (2020). 

The whip spider family Charinidae Quintero, 1986 is the most speciose and widely distributed in the arachnid order Amblypygi Thorell, 1883. It comprises three genera and 95 species distributed across all tropical continents and the eastern Mediterranean. Despite recent advances in the taxonomy of the family, a global revision of all its species, necessary to advance understanding of its systematics, biogeography and evolution, has never been conducted. In the present contribution, the family is revised in its entirety for the first time, including all previous names and 33 new species, 24 in the genus Charinus Simon, 1892: C. alagoanus sp. nov., C. apiaca sp. nov., C. carinae sp. nov., C. carioca sp. nov., C. carvalhoi sp. nov., C. cearensis sp. nov., C. diamantinus sp. nov., C. euclidesi sp. nov., C. goitaca sp. nov., C. guayaquil sp. nov., C. imperialis sp. nov., C. loko sp. nov., C. magalhaesi sp. nov., C. miskito sp. nov., C. mocoa sp. nov., C. monasticus sp. nov., C. palikur sp. nov., C. perquerens sp. nov., C. puri sp. nov., C. renneri sp. nov., C. sooretama sp. nov., C. souzai sp. nov., C. susuwa sp. nov., C. una sp. nov.; eight in the genus Sarax Simon, 1892: S. bilua sp. nov., S. dunni sp. nov., S. gravelyi sp. nov., S. indochinensis sp. nov., S. lembeh sp. nov., S. palau sp. nov., S. rahmadii sp. nov., S. tiomanensis sp. nov.; and one in the genus Weygoldtia Miranda et al., 2018: W. consonensis sp. nov. Taxonomic keys to the 132 species (excluding four nomina dubia) are presented and several taxonomic rearrangements implemented. Four subspecies are elevated to species level: Charinus cavernicolus Weygoldt, 2006, C. elegans Weygoldt, 2006, C. longipes Weygoldt, 2006, and Sarax bispinosus (Nair, 1934). Sarax batuensis Roewer, 1962 is removed from synonymy with Sarax buxtoni (Gravely, 1915) and S. buxtoni newly synonymized with Sarax rimosus (Simon, 1901). Stygophrynus moultoni Gravely, 1915 is transferred to Sarax, resulting in Sarax moultoni (Gravely, 1915) comb. nov. Ten species are transferred from Charinus to Sarax, resulting in new combinations: S. abbatei (Delle Cave, 1986) comb. nov., S. bengalensis (Gravely, 1911) comb. nov., S. dhofarensis (Weygoldt, Pohl & Polak, 2002) comb. nov., S. ioanniticus (Kritscher, 1959) comb. nov., S. israelensis (Miranda et al., 2016) comb. nov., S. omanensis (Delle Cave, Gardner & Weygoldt, 2009) comb. nov., S. pakistanus (Weygoldt, 2005) comb. nov., S. seychellarum (Kraepelin, 1898) comb. nov., S. socotranus (Weygoldt, Pohl & Polak, 2002) comb. nov. and S. stygochthobius (Weygoldt & Van Damme, 2004) comb. nov. 

Abstract The present contribution addresses the phylogeny and biogeography of the pantropical whip spider family Charinidae Quintero, 1986, the most species-rich in the arachnid order Amblypygi Thorell, 1883, based on morphology and multilocus DNA sequences, analysed simultaneously using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The morphological matrix comprises 138 characters, scored for four outgroup taxa and 103 ingroup terminals representing all genera and 64% of the species of Charinidae. The multilocus dataset comprises sequences from two nuclear and three mitochondrial gene loci for four outgroup taxa and 48 ingroup representing 30 (23%) taxa of Charinidae. Charinidae are monophyletic, with Weygoldtia Miranda et al., 2018 sister to a monophyletic group comprising Charinus Simon, 1892 and Sarax Simon, 1892, neither of which are reciprocally monophyletic. Charinidae diverged from other amblypygid families in the Late Carboniferous, c. 318 Mya, on the supercontinent Pangaea. Weygoldtia diverged from the common ancestor of Charinus and Sarax during the Late Permian, c. 257 Mya, when changes in climate reduced tropical forests. The divergence of Charinus and Sarax coincides with the fragmentation of Pangaea, c. 216 Mya. Sarax colonized South-East Asia via Australia. The charinid fauna of New Caledonia originated before the Oligocene, when the island separated from Australia, c. 80 Mya. 

This paper addresses the systematics of the New Zealand spiders of the family Malkaridae. Malkarids are small araneoid spiders that live primarily in the leaf litter and mosses of temperate and tropical wet forests in Australia and New Zealand, with the exception of a single species in southern South America and another in New Caledonia. We treat the New Zealand species of Malkaridae that are not members of the subfamily Pararchaeinae, a monophyletic group of 11 new species that we classify in 2 new genera (Tingotingo, gen. nov. and Whakamoke, gen. nov.) and a new subfamily (Tingotinginae, subfam. nov.). We describe, diagnose, illustrate and map the distribution of specimen records of these 11 new species of New Zealand Malkaridae: Tingotingo porotiti, sp. nov., T. pouaru, sp. nov., T. tokorera, sp. nov., T. aho, sp. nov., Whakamoke orongorongo, sp. nov.; W. tarakina, sp. nov.; W. guacamole, sp. nov.; W. hunahuna, sp. nov.; W. paoka, sp. nov.; W. heru, sp. nov.; and W. rakiura, sp. nov. We also treat the phylogenetic relationships of Malkaridae and use the results of our previous work on the molecular phylogeny of Araneoidea as the bases for the classification of the family. Tingotingo, gen. nov. and Whakamoke, gen. nov. are sister clades. Tingotinginae, subfam. nov. is the sister group of the Malkarinae plus Pararchaeinae clade. We further hypothesise and discuss the morphological synapomorphies of Malkaridae, Tingotinginae, subfam. nov. and the two new genera.