? Wide sternum(Huber 2000)
In most pholcids except ninetines, the sternum is >1.15 x as wide as long. This may be derived, but the character needs further comprehensive analysis.
? Long legs (tibia
1 >2.5
x carapace
width) and possibly correlated characters (retrolateral trichobothrium
very proximal, many pseudosegments)(Huber 2000)
It is not clear if short or long legs are plesiomorphic. Most ninetines have very short legs, but short legs also occur in other genera (Anopsicus, Metagonia, Chibchea) where they are thought to represent adaptations to life in the leaf litter and interstices of the soil. This means that ninetine short legs might be derived too.
(Bruvo-Madaric et al. 2005)
While 12S data and the total evidence analysis resolved all pholcids except Ninetis (no other ninetine included) as monophyletic in the study by Bruvo-Madaric et al. (2005), 28S data in that same study and a later analysis of CO1+16S and of 28S by Astrin et al. (2007 - using Ibotyporanga and Pholcophora to represent nintines) did not replicate this result. The recent study by Dimitrov et al. (2013) did not support this clade but did neither support an alternative solution.
