Misionella didicostae new species is described from 15–20 Ma Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic as the first fossil record of the family Filistatidae. The biogeography of the extant (Brazil and Argentina) and the new fossil species supports the hypothesis that the developing northern Greater Antilles and northwestern South America were briefly (33–35 Ma) connected by a landspan centered on the emergent Aves Ridge. Undiscovered extant species of Misionella may exist on Hispaniola. The autospasized first pair of legs suggest that the spider was engulfed in a flowing resin seep of relatively low viscosity, rather than having wandered onto a sticky exudate, becoming stuck and then covered by a subsequent resin flow.