Clitaetra

Clitaetra is a genus of spiders in a family Araneidae. It was formerly placed in a separate family, Nephilidae. It occurs in Africa, Madagascar and Sri Lanka, hinting to a Gondwanan origin. a split between Clitaetra and related genera may be as old as 160 million years. The smallest species (C. thisbe) reaches 3.5 mm in female length, a biggest species can be as long as one centimetre. The etymology of the genus name is unknown. As of May 2017, a World Spider Catalog accepted a following species: