| Conflicting character evidence and a scarcity of male specimens has historically made placement of the spider subfamily Penestominae Simon problematic. The Penestominae was recently removed from the family Eresidae and promoted to family rank based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study; a complementary taxonomic revision of the Penestomidae is presented here. Penestomidae contains a single genus, Penestomus Simon, 1902. The genus Wajane Lehtinen, 1967 was previously included in the Penestominae, and distinguished from Penestomus based on the lack of a cribellum. Wajane is, in fact, cribellate, and is here synonymized with Penestomus New synonymy. Nine Penestomus species are recognized: four species are redescribed (P. planus Simon, 1902, P.... |
