Austrochiloidea

The Austrochiloidea or austrochiloids are a group of araneomorph spiders, treated as a superfamily. The taxon contains two families of eight-eyed spiders:^[1]

• Austrochilidae Zapfe, 1955
• Gradungulidae Forster, 1955

Austrochiloidea
Gradungula sorenseni male
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Superfamily:	Austrochiloidea
Families
Austrochilidae Zapfe, 1955 Gradungulidae Forster, 1955

Phylogeny

The monophyly of the Austrochiloidea has been supported in both morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies. The position of the clade relative to two much larger groups, Haplogynae and Entelegynae, has varied. A summary in 2005 showed the Austrochiloidea to be basal to both groups:^[2][3]

	Austrochiloidea Haplogynae Entelegynae

Two studies have placed representatives of the Austrochiloidea between the two, suggesting they have more derived characters than previously supposed:^[3][4][5]

	Haplogynae Austrochiloidea Entelegynae