Progradungula

{{Short description|Genus of spiders}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|taxon=Progradungula

|image=Progradungula_otwayensis_cropped.png

|image_caption=P. otwayensis

|authority=Forster & Gray, 1979

|type_species=P. carraiensis

|type_species_authority=Forster & Gray, 1979

|subdivision_ranks=Species

|subdivision={{Specieslist|P. barringtonensis|{{small|Michalik & Smith, 2024}}

|P. carraiensis|{{small|Forster & Gray, 1979}} – Australia (New South Wales)

|P. otwayensis|{{small|Milledge, 1997}} – Australia (Victoria)}}

}}

Progradungula is a genus of Australian large-clawed spiders that was first described by Raymond Robert Forster and Michael R. Gray in 1979.{{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}} {{as of|2024|05}} it contains only three species: P. barringtonensis, P. carraiensis and P. otwayensis.{{cite journal|title=Gen. Progradungula Forster & Gray, 1979|website=World Spider Catalog Version 20.0|accessdate=2024-10-09 |year=2024 |publisher=Natural History Museum Bern |url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/1016|doi=10.24436/2}}

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.{{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}}

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.