This phylogenetic analysis of 3 1 exemplar taxa treats the 12 families ofhaneoidea (Anapidae, Araneidae, Cyatholipidae, Linyphiidae, Mysmenidae, Nesticidae, Pimoidae, Symphytognathidae, Synotaxidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae, and Theridiosomatidae). The data set comprises 93 characters: 23 from male genitalia, 3 from female genitalia, 18 from cephalothorax morphology, 6 from abdomen morphology, 14 from limb morphology, 15 from the spinnerets, and 14 from web architecture and other behaviour. Criteria for tree choice were minimum length parsimony and parsimony under implied weights. The outgroup for Araneoidea is Deinopoidea (Deinopidae and Uloboridae). The preferred shortest tree specifies the relationships ((Uloboridae, Deinopidae) (Araneidae (Tetragnathidae ((Theridiosomatidae (Mysmenidae (Symphytognathidae, Anapidae))) ((Linyphiidae, Pimoidae) ((Theridiidae, Nesticidae) (Cyatholipidae, Synotaxidae))))))). The monophyly of Tetragnathidae (including metines and nephilines), the symphytognathoids, theridiid-nesticid lineage, and Synotaxidae are confirmed. Cyatholipidae are sister to Synotaxidae, not closely related to either the Araneidae or Linyphiidae, as previously suggested. Four new clades are proposed: the cyatholipoids (Cyatholipidae plus Synotaxidae), the 'spineless femur clade' (theridioid lineage plus cyatholipoids), the 'araneoid sheet web builders' (linyphioids plus the spineless femur clade), and the 'reduced piriform clade' (symphytognathoids plus araneoid sheet web builders). The results imply a coherent scenario for web evolution in which the monophyletic orb gives rise to the monophyletic araneoid sheet, which in turn gives rise to the gumfoot web of the theridiid-nesticid lineage. While the spinning complement of single pairs of glands does not change much over the evolution of the group, multiple sets of glands are dramatically reduced in number, implying that derived araneoids are incapable of spinning many silk fibers at the same time. 0 1998 The 1,innean Society of London ADDITIONAL

Increasing our understanding of Earth's biodiversity and responsibly stewarding its resources are among the most crucial scientific and social challenges of the new millennium. These challenges require fundamental new knowledge of the organization, evolution, functions, and interactions among millions of the planet's organisms. Herein, we present a perspective on the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a moonshot for biology that aims to sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth's eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of 10 years. The outcomes of the EBP will inform a broad range of major issues facing humanity, such as the impact of climate change on biodiversity, the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems, and the preservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. We describe hurdles that the project faces, including data-sharing policies that ensure a permanent, freely available resource for future scientific discovery while respecting access and benefit sharing guidelines of the Nagoya Protocol. We also describe scientific and organizational challenges in executing such an ambitious project, and the structure proposed to achieve the project's goals. The far-reaching potential benefits of creating an open digital repository of genomic information for life on Earth can be realized only by a coordinated international effort.

We present a phylogenetic analysis of spiders using a dataset of 932 spider species, representing 115 families (only the family Synaphridae is unrepresented), 700 known genera, and additional representatives of 26 unidentified or undescribed genera. Eleven genera of the orders Amblypygi, Palpigradi, Schizomida and Uropygi are included as outgroups. The dataset includes six markers from the mitochondrial (12S, 16S, COI) and nuclear (histone H3, 18S, 28S) genomes, and was analysed by multiple methods, including constrained analyses using a highly supported backbone tree from transcriptomic data. We recover most of the higher‐level structure of the spider tree with good support, including Mesothelae, Opisthothelae, Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae. Several of our analyses recover Hypochilidae and Filistatidae as sister groups, as suggested by previous transcriptomic analyses. The Synspermiata are robustly supported, and the families Trogloraptoridae and Caponiidae are found as sister to the Dysderoidea. Our results support the Lost Tracheae clade, including Pholcidae, Tetrablemmidae, Diguetidae, Plectreuridae and the family Pacullidae (restored status) separate from Tetrablemmidae. The Scytodoidea include Ochyroceratidae along with Sicariidae, Scytodidae, Drymusidae and Periegopidae; our results are inconclusive about the separation of these last two families. We did not recover monophyletic Austrochiloidea and Leptonetidae, but our data suggest that both groups are more closely related to the Cylindrical Gland Spigot clade rather than to Synspermiata. Palpimanoidea is not recovered by our analyses, but also not strongly contradicted. We find support for Entelegynae and Oecobioidea (Oecobiidae plus Hersiliidae), and ambiguous placement of cribellate orb‐weavers, compatible with their non‐monophyly. Nicodamoidea (Nicodamidae plus Megadictynidae) and Araneoidea composition and relationships are consistent with recent analyses. We did not obtain resolution for the titanoecoids (Titanoecidae and Phyxelididae), but the Retrolateral Tibial Apophysis clade is well supported. Penestomidae, and probably Homalonychidae, are part of Zodarioidea, although the latter family was set apart by recent transcriptomic analyses. Our data support a large group that we call the marronoid clade (including the families Amaurobiidae, Desidae, Dictynidae, Hahniidae, Stiphidiidae, Agelenidae and Toxopidae). The circumscription of most marronoid families is redefined here. Amaurobiidae include the Amaurobiinae and provisionally Macrobuninae. We transfer Malenellinae (Malenella, from Anyphaenidae), Chummidae (Chumma) (new syn.) and Tasmarubriinae (Tasmarubrius, Tasmabrochus and Teeatta, from Amphinectidae) to Macrobuninae. Cybaeidae are redefined to include Calymmaria, Cryphoeca, Ethobuella and Willisius (transferred from Hahniidae), and Blabomma and Yorima (transferred from Dictynidae). Cycloctenidae are redefined to include Orepukia (transferred from Agelenidae) and Pakeha and Paravoca (transferred from Amaurobiidae). Desidae are rede...