When narrowly circumscribed, it comprises a single genus Liphistius, native to Southeast Asia; as of April 2024[update], this was the circumscription accepted by the World Spider Catalog.

[4] In 1939, Alexander Petrunkevitch raised the tribe Heptatheleae to a separate family, Heptathelidae, thus restoring the narrower circumscription of the Liphistiidae.

[6] Other authors have maintained two separate families,[7][8] a position accepted by the World Spider Catalog as of April 2024[update].

[10] Molecular phylogenetic studies have repeatedly shown that the suborder Mesothelae is monophyletic, at least as regards extant (living) species, with the two families forming separate clades:[8] Liphistius 7 genera As of April 2024[update], the World Spider Catalog accepted the narrow circumscription of the family Liphistiidae, in which it contains only one genus:[1] Members of the Liphistiidae share features with the other Mesothelae family, Heptathelidae.

[11] Like other members of the suborder Mesothelae, and unlike all other extant spiders, they have a segmented series of plates (tergites) on the upper surface of all segments of the abdomen and their spinnerets are placed in the middle of the underside of the abdomen, rather than at the end.

[16] Unlike members of the family Heptathelidae, Liphistiidae spiders construct signal lines radiating from the entrance to their burrows.