Shield  Spiders  -  Family:  Malkaridae
      Malkarid spiders, also known as Shield Spiders, are a small family of araneomorph spiders that belong to the superfamily Araneoidea. They were first described by Valerie Todd Davies in 1980 and comprise 13 genera and 57 species.    Most of them are endemic to Australia and New Zealand, where they inhabit leaf litter and mosses of temperate and tropical wet forests.    However, one genus, Chilenodes, is found in southern South America, and another genus, Flavarchaea, has a single species in New Caledonia.   
       The Malkaridae are characterized by having a shield-like carapace, a triangular abdomen, and six spinnerets. They are rare and poorly known spiders, with some species only known from a few specimens.     Their range includes the Australian east coast, Tasmania and the south-west corner of Western Australia.   Malkaridae spiders have a high degree of endemism, especially in south-western Australia where they are confined to mesic (= having a well-balanced water supply)  habitats  in montane areas.
      In 2017, the family Pararchaeidae was synonymized with Malkaridae based on molecular and morphological evidence adding fuel to the argument that the taxonomic classification of spiders and their allies is far from settled.

Subfamily:  Malkarinae

      Malkara loricata

​    

Subfamily:  Pararchaeinae

      Raven's Pararchaeid Spider  -  Anarchaea raveni
      Nanarchaea binnaburra

      

Taxonomy:
​​
Phylum:   Arthropoda   (Arthropods)
          > Subphylum:   Chelicerata   (Chelicerates)
                    > Class:   Arachnida   (Arachnids) 
                                        > Order:   Aranea   (Spiders)
                                                  > Suborder:   Araneomorphae   (Typical Spiders)
                                                            > Infraorder:   Entelegynea   (Entelegyne Spiders)
                                                                      > Superfamily:   Araneoidea   (Araneoid Spiders)
                                                                                > Family:   Malkaridae   (Shield Spiders)
                                                                                          > Subfamily:   Malkarinae
                                                                                                              > Genus:   Malkara
                                                                                                                        > Species:   M. loricata
                                                                                          > Subfamily:   Pararchaeinae
                                                                                                              > Genus:   Anarchaea
                                                                                                                        > Species:   A. raveni  -  Raven's Pararchaeid Spider
                                                                                                              > Genus:   Nanarchaea
                                                                                                                        > Species:   N. binnaburra


*   =   likely
^   =   possibly
References  and  links:
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>      Davies, V.T.,  (1980).   'Malkara loricata, a new spider (Araneidae: Malkarinae) from Australia.'   Proceedings 8. Internationaler Arachnologen-Kongress Wien 1980: 377-382. ​

        https://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2128
       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemism
       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Todd_Davies​
​         https://www.wlfw.org/what-does-mesic-mean/#:~:text=Mesic%20is%20a%20broad%20definition,and%20productive%20high%2Delevation%20rangelands.

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