Phantoms of Gondwana?—phylogeny of the spider subfamily Mynogleninae (Araneae: Linyphiidae)

This is the first genus‐level phylogeny of the subfamily Mynogleninae. It is based on 190 morphological characters scored for 44 taxa: 37 mynoglenine taxa (ingroup) representing 15 of the 17 known genera and seven outgroup taxa representing the subfamilies Stemonyphantinae, Linyphiinae (Linyphiini and Micronetini), and Erigoninae, and a representative of the family Pimoidae, the sister‐group to Linyphiidae. No fewer than 147 of the morphological characters used in this study are new and defined for this study, and come mainly from male and female genitalia. Parsimony analysis with equal weights resulted in three most parsimonious trees of length 871. The monophyly of the subfamily Mynogleninae and the genera Novafroneta, Parafroneta, Laminafroneta, Afroneta, Promynoglenes, Metamynoglenes, and Haplinis are supported, whereas Pseudafroneta is paraphyletic. The remaining seven mynoglenine genera are either monotypic or represented by only one taxon. Diagnoses are given for all genera included in the analysis. The evolution of morphological traits is discussed and we summarize the diversity and distribution patterns of the 124 known species of mynoglenines. The preferred topology suggests a single origin of mynoglenines in New Zealand with two dispersal events to Africa, and does not support Gondwana origin.