Abstract

Summary The new fossil family Grandoculidae fam. n. is erected for a Cretaceous (Campanian) Canadian amber spider Grandoculus chemahawinensis formerly placed tentatively in the extinct family Lagonomegopidae. Following the descriptions of several new lagonomegopid genera from widespread fossil deposits, it is now clear that their overall somatic morphology is rather homogeneous and different from that of Grandoculus, which now sits uncomfortably alongside them. The enlarged first leg with a dense scopular brush of hook-tipped setae on metatarsus I represents a distinct autapomorphy for Grandoculidae. These may indicate possible relationships to non-lagonomegopid taxa such as Palpimanidae (although their scopulae consist of spatulate setae), but additional better preserved fossils (preferably mature males) will be required to confirm this.

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