The Symphytognathidae 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 44 described species in six genera.

The minute species Patu digua

Patu digua

Patu digua is by some accounts considered to be the smallest spider in the world, with males reaching a body size of about 0.37 mm. Small as the head of a pin. However, there are other spider species of similar size where only the female is known. Because male spiders are usually smaller than...

with its body size of only 0.37mm is considered to be one of the smallest spiders in the world.

Distribution

Species occur in the tropics of Central

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 and the 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...

n region (with Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

), with three species (Anapistula benoiti, A.caecula, Symphytognatha imbulunga) found in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and one (Anapistula ishikawai) in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Anapistula jerai occurs in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

.

Genera

• Anapistula Gertsch
  Willis J. Gertsch
  Willis John Gertsch was an American arachnologist. He classified a number of species, including the Brown recluse spider and the Tooth cave spider....
  
  , 1941 — Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia
• Anapogonia Simon
  Eugène Simon
  Eugène Simon was a French arachnologist. His many taxonomic contributions include categorizing and naming many spiders, as well as creating genera such as Anelosimus, Psellocoptus and Phlogius....
  
  , 1905 — Java
• Curimagua Forster
  Raymond Robert Forster
  Raymond Robert Forster was a spider expert.He wrote his first paper on spiders at the age of 17. He studied at Victoria University...
  
   & 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...
  
  , 1977 — Panama, Venezuela
• Globignatha Balogh & Loksa, 1968 — Brazil, Belize
• Patu
  Patu (genus)
  Patu is a genus of spiders in the family Symphytognathidae that occurs in Colombia and Oceania. Patu digua is the smallest species of spider described to date.-Name:...
  
  Marples, 1951 — Colombia, Oceania
• Symphytognatha Hickman, 1931 — Mexico to Brazil, Africa, Australia, New Guinea