The genus was first named as
Eothele by
Paul A. Selden in 1996. However, this name had already been used for a
Cambrian brachiopod, so in 2000, Selden proposed the replacement name
Palaeothele.
Palaeothele is derived from the
Greek , "ancient", and , "nipple" – a common ending for spider names, referring to their
spinnerets. The species name
montceauensis refers to the location where the fossils were found.
Phylogeny In 1996, Selden suggested the relationships shown in the cladogram below. (At the time,
Attercopus was thought to be a spider; it is now considered to belong to a related but separate group, the
Uraraneida.)
Palaeothele is shown as sister to the modern genus
Heptathela since they both have "tracheal sacs", structures adjacent to the posterior
book lungs. }} ==References==