{{Short description|Genus of spiders}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = | image = Progradungula_otwayensis_cropped.png | image_caption = ''P. otwayensis'' | image2 = | image2_caption = | taxon = Progradungula | authority = Forster & Gray, 1979<ref name=wsc /> | type_species = ''P. carraiensis'' | type_species_authority = Forster & Gray, 1979 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 3, see text }}
'''''Progradungula''''' is a genus of Australian large-clawed spiders that was first described by Raymond Robert Forster and Michael R. Gray in 1979.<ref name=Fors1979 />
The name is derived from Latin ''pro'' ("before"), and the genus name ''Gradungula'', referring to the ancient ancestry of the genus. It is the first discovered web-building cribellate spider in a "primitive" araneomorph spider family and helped establish the idea that all araneomorph spiders evolved from cribellate ancestors.<ref name=Mill1997 />
These spiders have an uncommon web-making technique and prey-capturing behaviour. A small (approximately {{cvt|25x6|mm|in}}), tilting, ladder-like platform of cribellate capturing silk is supported by an overhead structure of threads linked to the rock walls and consists of two parallel stabilizing silk lines.
==Species== {{as of|2025|10}}, this genus includes three species:<ref name="wsc" /> {{Div col}} * ''Progradungula barringtonensis'' <small>Michalik & Smith, 2024</small> – Australia (New South Wales) * ''Progradungula carraiensis'' <small>Forster & Gray, 1979</small> – Australia (New South Wales) (type species) * ''Progradungula otwayensis'' <small>Milledge, 1997</small> – Australia (Victoria) {{Div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="wsc">{{cite web | url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/1016 | title=Gen. ''Progradungula'' Forster & Gray, 1979 | publisher=World Spider Catalog | doi=10.24436/2 | accessdate=2025-10-29}}</ref> <ref name="Fors1979">{{cite journal|last1=Forster|first1=R. R.|last2=Gray|first2=M. R.|year=1979|title=''Progradungula'', a new cribellate genus of the spider family Gradungulidae (Araneae).|journal=Australian Journal of Zoology|pages=1051–1071|volume=27|issue=6 |doi=10.1071/zo9791051}}</ref> <ref name="Mill1997">{{cite journal|last=Milledge|first=G.|year=1997|title=A new species of ''Progradungula'' Forster & Gray (Araneae: Gradungulidae)from Victoria|journal=Memoirs of Museum Victoria |volume=56|issue=1|pages=65–68|doi=10.24199/j.mmv.1997.56.02|doi-access=free}}</ref> }} {{refbegin}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Platnick |first1=Norman I. |last2=Dupérré |first2=Nadine |date=2010-03-15 |title=The Goblin Spider Genus ''Scaphiella'' (Araneae, Oonopidae) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/700.1 |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=332 |pages=1–156 |doi=10.1206/700.1 |issn=0003-0090|url-access=subscription }} {{refend}}
==External links== * {{inaturalist taxon}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2010549}}
Category:Araneomorphae genera Category:Gradungulidae Category:Spiders of Australia Category:Endemic fauna of Australia Category:Taxa named by Raymond Robert Forster Category:Taxa named by Michael R. Gray