Artifex (spider)

Artifex is a small genus of orb-weaver spiders native to tropical regions of mainland Australia and to New Caledonia. The genus was erected by R. J. Kallal and Gustavo Hormiga in 2018 to contain two species moved from different genera that have several synapomorphies, including an abdomen that extends past the spinnerets, widely separated spermathecae, and dorsal markings similar to those of Zygiellinae.^[2] The name is a combination of the Latin "ars", meaning "art", and "-fex", meaning "maker" in reference to the shelters they build out of leaves.^[2]

Artifex
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Araneidae
Genus:	Artifex Kallal & Hormiga, 2018[1]
Type species
Epeira melanopyga (L. Koch, 1871)
Species
Artifex joannae (Berland, 1924) Artifex melanopyga (L. Koch, 1871)

As of April 2022^[update] it contains only two species: A. joannae and A. melanopyga.^[1]

See also

• Phonognatha
• List of Araneidae species: A