A new genus, Suffrica, is described from Tanzania and Kenya. It contains three new species occurring in the Eastern Arc Mountains and the adjacent Mkomazi Game Reserve: S. exotica, S. chawia and S. gus. They are characterized by a remarkable combination of features which has not been documented in spiders so far: a pair of femoral organs on each leg, a gland on the dorsal side of the abdomen in both sexes and a dorsal abdominal groove in males. A dual femoral organ appears to occur in species of the genus Suffasia Jocqué, 1991 and Asceua Thorell, 1887. The discovery of a new African genus close to Suffasia is remarkable since the latter genus is known only from Asia.

The purse-web spider genus Calommata Lucas, 1837 is revised in the Afrotropical Region. Following examination of the female type material, C. transvaalica Hewit

The Afrotropical representatives of the zodariid spider genus Asceua Thorell, 1889 are revised. Apart from the known species A. radiosa Jocqué, 1986 (Comoros, Mayotte) and A. lejeunei Jocqué, 1991 (DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria), six new species are recognized and described: A. arborivagasp. nov. (♀, Guinea), A. foordisp. nov., (♂♀, DR Congo, Guinea, South Africa), A. incensasp. nov. (♂♀, DR Congo), A. lukisp. nov. (♂♀, DR Congo), A. palustrissp. nov. (♀, DR Congo) and A. ventrofiguratasp. nov. (♂♀, Tanzania). A key to the species is provided. Some of the species have a very large distribution, which is unusual in the Zodariidae. The phenomenon is probably linked to the canopy dwelling behaviour, which appears common in the genus but unique for this spider family.

The mega-diverse haplogyne family of goblin spiders (Oonopidae Simon, 1890) has long been among the most poorly known families of spiders. However, since the launch of the goblin spider Planetary Biodiversity Inventory project knowledge about Oonopidae is rapidly expanding. Currently, Oonopidae is placed within the superfamily Dysderoidea and is divided into three subfamilies. Nevertheless, the monophyly and internal phylogeny of this family has not yet been investigated based on DNA sequence data. Hence, this study reports the first phylogeny based on ribosomal sequence data including 37 oonopid genera and representatives of all families within the Dysderoidea. These results suggest that the majority of the oonopid genera constitute a natural group. Moreover, two subfamilies Orchestininae and Sulsulinae and several morphologically defined groups e.g. the Zyngoonops- and Dysderina-groups, were well supported. In contrast, the Pelicinus-, Stenoonops- and Scaphiella-groups were not corroborated. Although most genera represented by more than one specimen were recovered as monophyletic, our study casts doubt on the monophyly of the genus Aschnaoonops Makhan & Ezzatpanah, 2011. Furthermore, the results corroborate that a low degree of body sclerotisation might be considered as a plesiomorphic trait.

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