The Gallieniellidae are a spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

 family with 48 species in ten genera.

The species of this family are suspected to be specialized in ant-preying.

Distribution

The family was originally thought to be endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 to Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. From the 1980s on, species were also found in southern Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, northeastern Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The Genus Drassodella was transferred from the family Gnaphosidae in 1990.

Genera

The categorization into subfamilies follows Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog.

• Gallienellinae Millot, 1947
• Drassodella Hewitt, 1916 (South Africa
  South Africa
  The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
  
  )
• Gallieniella Millot, 1947 (Madagascar, Comoro Island)
• Legendrena Platnick, 1984 (Madagascar)
• Toxoniella Warui & Jocqué, 2002 (Kenya
  Kenya
  Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
  
  )

• Meedoinae
• Galianoella Goloboff, 2000 (Argentina)
• Meedo Main, 1987 (Australia)
• Neato Platnick
  Norman I. Platnick
  Norman I. Platnick is an American arachnologist, and the Peter J. Solomon Family Curator of the invertebrate zoology department of the American Museum of Natural History. A 1973 Ph.D...
  
  , 2002 (Australia)
• Oreo Platnick, 2002 (Australia)
• Peeto Platnick, 2002 (Australia)
• Questo Platnick, 2002 (Australia)