Nothophantes

Nothophantes, the horrid ground-weaver, is a critically endangered monotypic genus of European dwarf spiders containing the single species, Nothophantes horridus. It was first described by P. Merrett & R. A. Stevens in 1995, and has only been found in an area of Plymouth smaller than . The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (nothos), meaning "spurious", and hyphantes, meaning "weaver". The species name comes from the Latin horridus, meaning "bristly".

== Taxonomy == Nothophantes horridus is part of the Linyphiidae family and is closely related to two other genera: Lepthyphantes and Centromerus. The structure of the epigyne would suggest that Nothophantes belongs to the subfamily Lepthyphantinae. The form of the epigyne is very similar to that of the genus Centromerus and Centrophantes, however, the Chaetotaxy is very different comparing these genera and is more similar to the chaetotaxy of Troglohyphantes and Lepthyphantes. Nothophantes was considered to be included in the Lepthyphantes genus as it already was a large and diverse genus but the epigyne is too different to include it.