RTA clade
| RTA clade Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Male Alopecosa albofasciata, a wolf spider and member of the RTA clade | |
| Scientific classification | |
| 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. Most of the members of the clade are wanderers and do not build webs. 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.