Goblin-,  Tunnel  Spiders  and  Allies 
 Superfamily:   Dysderoidea
      The Superfamily: Dysderoidea is a large group of spiders the monophyly of which has been well established.  Dysderoids have six closely set eyes and, of their often short-ish but sturdy legs, two pairs are commonly aimed forwards giving them an aggressive looking stance.   All up, the superfamily contains 2,942 species in 175 genera in 4 families as of December 2023.  Nearly two-thirds of the number of species belong in the one family, the Oonopidae. Most are robust looking spiders but their size varies greatly between families.  Their collective name was given to them by William S. Bristowe, a British naturalist  and arachnologist, in 1938.  
      Like all Haplogyne spiders the of the Dysderoidea have what seem to be rather underdeveloped copulatory organs.  This includes both male
​ - the palpal bulbs - and the female parts - the epygine, the latter showing a lot less sclerotisation than the comparative parts in the Entelegyne spiders.   
Dysderoid spiders enjoy a wide distribution however, most records have come from Europe and North America. They are found in lesser numbers in South America, southern Africa, Oceania and southern and Far-East Asia.  Fossil distribution, likewise, is global and the oldest fossils of the Superfamily date back up to 130 My.
      All four families of the Dysderoidea are represented in Australia but one family, the Dysderidae,  is generally restricted to the south-east of the country and so far has not been recorded north of Tamworth.  In contrast species from the other three families may be encountered pretty much nationwide although they tend to be less often seen in the interior of the country.

N.B.  The 'World Spider Catalog' mentions subfamilies for both the Segestridae and Oonopidae.  Neither the 'Atlas of Living Australia' nor 'iNaturalist' recognise them.  'Wikispecies', however, does mention them as well, even though it lists only one extant subfamily of the Segestridae whereas 'the Catalog' lists two.
References  and  links:
​
>      Busschere, C. de,  Fannes, W.,  Henrard, A., Gaublomme, E.,  Jocqué, R.  and   Baert, L.,  (2014).    'Unravelling the goblin spiders puzzle: rDNA phylogeny of the family Oonopidae (Araneae).'   Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny, 72: 177–192.

      https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/f6ba349e-5f23-4da6-98f1-598d53d715ad#overview​
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigyne
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpal_bulb​
​      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._S._Bristowe
      https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Orsolobidae
      https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Segestriidae​
      https://www.mindat.org/taxon-P258034.html

Header photo:
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