Thomisidae, Sundevall, 1833

Breitling, Rainer, 2021, A completely resolved phylogenetic tree of British spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), Ecologica Montenegrina 46, pp. 1-51 : 29

Thomisidae

Phylogenetic studies of the crab spiders, e.g., by Benjamin (2011), Benjamin et al. (2008), Ileperuma Arachchi & Benjamin (2019), and Ono (1988), focus on the higher-level phylogeny of the family and include relatively few species that have close relatives in the British fauna. Barcode data can help to guide tree reconstructions in areas left unresolved by these global analyses. Misumena is placed as sister to Pistius , based on the barcode data, with strong support. Diaea is considered sister of the two, based on morphological similarity, with Thomisus sister of all three. Arrangements within Coriarachnini are based on Breitling (2019a), placing Bassaniodes as sister of Psammitis + Xysticus , in a conservative arrangement relative to Ozyptila + Cozyptila . Ozyptila sanctuaria and O. pullata are considered sisters of O. claveata , based on their similarity to the barcode-sequenced O. arctica . Resolving the trichotomy at the basis of Xysticus s. str. in Breitling (2019a) is difficult with the available data, and X. bifasciatus is placed basal to the other British members of Xysticus s.str. without strong arguments in favour of this placement.

Ozyptila maculosa is a phantom species as defined by Breitling et al. (2015, 2016), possibly referring to a malformed specimen of O. atomaria . It is thus considered a nomen dubium and not included in the tree.