| RTA clade Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Male Alopecosa albofasciata, a wolf spider and member of the RTA clade | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Clade: | Entelegynae |
| Clade: | RTA clade |
| Clades | |
|
Dionycha and see text | |
The RTA clade is a clade of araneomorph spiders, united by the possession of a retrolateral tibial apophysis – a backward-facing projection on the tibia of the male pedipalp.[1] The clade contains over 21,000 species, almost half the current total of about 46,000 known species of spider.[2] Most of the members of the clade are wanderers and do not build webs.[3] Despite making up approximately half of all modern spider diversity, there are no unambiguous records of the group from the Mesozoic and molecular clock evidence suggests that the group began to diversify during the Late Cretaceous.[4]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
CoddLevi91was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
WSC_statswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
HormGris14was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Magalhaes, Ivan L. F.; Azevedo, Guilherme H. F.; Michalik, Peter; Ramírez, Martín J. (February 2020). "The fossil record of spiders revisited: implications for calibrating trees and evidence for a major faunal turnover since the Mesozoic". Biological Reviews. 95 (1): 184–217. doi:10.1111/brv.12559. ISSN 1464-7931. PMID 31713947. S2CID 207937170.