Book excerpt: Forest Spiders of South East Asia offers the first comprehensive systematic account of all sac and ground spiders of South East Asia, which together constitute an estimated 12% of all spiders in the region. All ten subfamilies, 57 genera and numerous species of the region are defined, described, and illustrated. One new subfamily and a large number of new genera and species are described and named. Several hundreds additional, described and new, species are referred to. Distribution of all species covered in this volume is shown in 50 maps. More than a thousand line drawings and 16 colour photographs are used to illustrate the descriptions of the species, of which the great majority has never been illustrated before. The book provides a modern revision of all sac and ground spiders with clear illustrated diagnosis and descriptions of all known members of this group and many new species and genera. Identification of all 47 families occurring in the region is illustrated in beautiful and detailed drawings.