Araneomorphae (the "true spiders") is one of the two major clades of living spiders and includes the great majority of the world's spider families and species. The other major clade is Mygalomorphae (the tarantulas and allies). Sister to (Araneomorphae + Mygalomorphae) is Mesothelae, but this clade includes just a single family of living spiders, the Liphistiidae (with fewer than a hundred known species, all from eastern Asia; Platnick 2014).
Araneomorphs have evolved a range of novel features associated with complex silk production, although a number of lineages have independently switched from a sedentary web-spinning lifestyle to being wandering hunters.
(Coddington 2005)
