ERESIDAE C. L. Koch, 1851 Nombre común en ingles: Velvet spiders Nombre común en castellano: Se desconoce Familias similares: Género tipo: Eresus Walckenaer, 1805 Diagnosis: Small to large araneomorph spiders; three tarsal claws; cribellate; entelegyne; eight eyes; carapace convex, rectangular; median eyes situated close together, with lateral eyes widely spaced; body usually clothed in a dense layer of short plumose setae. Caracteres descriptivos: Caparazón: rectangular; high in Eresinae, flattened in Penestominae; densely clothed in setae; clypeus protruding centrally; fovea circular but variable in depth; males of Dresserus and some Stegodyphus with horn-like extensions at anterolateral edge of carapace. Esternón: narrowed in front; labiosternal groove distinct. Ojos: eight; both pairs of median eyes close together, with lateral eyes wide apart; posterior lateral eyes far back on carapace, closer to the front in Penestominae. Quelíceros: strong; anterior margin of cheliceral furrow armed with a strong chitinous keel which may be serrated. Piezas bucales: endites with well-developed serrula; labium rounded apically. Patas: three claws; legs usually short and stout; tarsi usually united to metatarsi by almost rigid joints; densely clothed in setae. Palpo femenino: unmodified. Abdomen: rounded to oval; densely clothed in plumose setae; frequently with pattern. Hileras: anterior spinnerets thick, conical, multi-segmented; spinnerets of Scothyra and Dorceus modified, with only anterior pair well developed. Sistema respiratorio: two booklungs; posterior tracheal spiracle close to spinnerets. Cribellum: well-developed; cribellar plate oval; divided, or 3-4 partite in Dresserus; 2-partite in Gandanameno and other genera; absent in Wajane. Calamistrum: uniseriate, usually along entire length of metatarsi IV in Eresinae; shorter in Penestominae; absent in Wajane. Genitalia: epigyne usually simple, usually with a median septum and linear depression latero-caudally; internal structure usually simple; male palp short, thick and simple; tibial apophyses absent in Eresinae; Penestominae with tibial process large, bifurcated and median apohysis complex. Tamaño corporal: 3-35 mm. Color: various hues of dark brown, yellowish brown or grey; abdomen sometimes with distinct pattern formed by white, orange, pale blue or red setae, some species are characterized by remarkable sexual dimorphism, where males are of bright aposematic coloration. Estatus taxonómico: Platnick et al. (1991) considered the oecobiids and eresids to be sister taxa, while Coddington (1990) considered them to be adjacent outgroups for the remaining Entelegyne. Coddington & Levi (1991) and Coddington et al. (2004) placed them in the superfamily Eresoidea together with the Oecibiidae and Hersiliidae. Several genera have been revised: Dorceus (El-Hennawy, 2002); Scothyra (Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1990); Penestomus (Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1989); Stegodyphus (Kraus & Kraus, 1988); Wajane Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1989). Distribución: Afrotropical and Palearctic Regions with high diversity in Africa and a few species of Stegodyphus known in Brazil and the Indomalasian region. Estilo de vida: Live in variety of habitats. They construct retreat webs and are found on the ground in burrows or on plants. Three species of Stegodyphus are social. Bibliografía: Coddington, J. A. 1990. Ontogeny and homology in the male palpus of orb-weaving spiders and their relatives, with comments on phylogeny (Araneoclada: Araneoidea, Deinopoidea). Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 496: 1-52. Coddington, J.A. & Levi, H.W. 1991. Systematics and evolution of spiders (Araneae). Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst, 22: 565-592. Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S. 1989. The African species of the subfamily Penestominae (Araneae: Eresidae): with description of two new species. Phytophylactica 21: 131-134. Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S. 1990. A revision of the African spider genus Seothyra Purcell (Araneae: Eresidae). Cimbebasia 12: 135-160. Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S. & Jocqué, R. 1997. African Spiders: An Identification Manual. Plant Protection Res. Inst. Handbook, no. 9, Pretoria, 392 pp. El-Hennawy, H.K. 2002. Revision of the North African spider genus Dorceus C. L. Koch, 1846 (Araneida: Eresidae). Serket 8: 57-72. Kraus, O. & Kraus, M. 1988. The genus Stegodyphus (Arachnida, Araneae). Sibling species, species groups, and parallel origin of social living. Verh. naturwiss. Ver. Hamburg 30: 151-254. Lehtinen, P.T. 1967. Classification of the cribellate spiders and some allied families, with notes on the evolution of the suborder Araneomorpha. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 4: 199-468. Platnick, N.I., Coddington, J.A., Forster, R.R. & Griswold, C.E. 1991. Spinneret morphology and the phylogeny of Haplogyne spiders (Araneae, Araneomorphae). Am. Mus. Novit. 3016: 1-73.           2 géneros y 4 especies presentes en la Península Ibérica: Eresus Walckenaer, 1805                       - E. kollari Rossi, 1846                       - E. sedilloti Simon, 1881                       - E. solitarius Simon, 1873 Stegodyphus Simon, 1873                       - S. lineatus (Latreille, 1817)