The first quantitative phylogenetic analysis within the spider family Philodromidae (using 65 morphological characters from 40 ingroup taxa) does not corroborate Schick’s division into the tribes Thanatini (Apollophanes O. P.-Cambridge, 1898, Pelloctanes Schick, 1965, Thanatus C. L. Koch, 1837; Tibellus, Simon, 1875) and Philodromini (Ebo Keyserling, 1884, Philodromus Walckenaer, 1826; Rhysodromus Schick, 1965). Instead, Ebo is sister to all other genera in the family, and a fraction of Philodromus (the histrio species-group = Rhysodromus Schick) are contained with the Thanatini. The forgotten genus Artanes Thorell, 1870 constitutes a well-defined distal taxon in a clade that contains the majority of Philodromus species. Here Artanes is considered a subgenus of Philodromus, and includes the margaritatus and the poecilus species-groups. The western Palearctic species of the subgenus are revised. Twelve species are (re-)described, keyed and illustrated: Philodromus blanckei (Wunderlich, 1995) (first description of ♀); P. calidus Lucas, 1846; P. femurostriatus, sp. nov. from the eastern Mediterranean; P. fuscomarginatus (De Geer, 1778); P. johani, sp. nov. from Crete; P. laricium Simon, 1875, removed from synonymy with P. corticinus (C. L. Koch); P. maghrebi, sp. nov. from northern Africa (♀ only); P. margaritatus (Clerck, 1757); P. parietalis Simon, 1875; P. pentheri, sp. nov. from the Caspian region and Albania (♀ only); P. pinetorum, sp. nov. from the Mediterranean; and P. poecilus (Thorell, 1872).