A new species of Oligoxystre, Oligoxystre diamantinensis n. sp., is described from Brazil. Male can be distinguished from all other Oligoxystre species by the male palpal bulb lacking a small subapical keel on the embolus in conjunction with the embolus length (less than 2.5 times the tegulum length) and by the tibial spur being inserted in a perpendicular angle in relation to the tibia axis. Female can be distinguished by the spermathecae being much more longer than wide, lacking lateral lobes anda large terminal lobe with five smaller lobes around it. Additionally, males and females can be distinguished by the general blue metallic color pattern contrasting with the reddish setae on the abdomen. A key for all described Oligoxystre species is presented. The cladistic relationship of O. diamantinensis sp. n. with the other Oligoxystre species is discussed and data on its habitat is provided.
ZooKeys 5: 41-51 [p. 44, f. 1-8].
The two Indian Ischnolocus species, I. decoratus and I. khasiensis are transferred to the genus Chilobrachys Karsch, 1891 based on presence and pattern of stridulatory setae on maxillae and chelicerae. Further, Ischnocolus decoratus is synonymised with Chilobrachys fimbriatus Pocock, 1899.
Journal of Threatened Taxa 1: 533-534
Hitherto the genus Phormictopus POCOCK, 1901 consisted of 14 species and 2 subspecies of
which 5 were reported from South America. This article reduces the species number to 12.
Five new species are decribed, 4 new synonyms declared, 3 nomina dubia (missing types),
and 3 of the former species belong to other genera (now status “incertae sedis”). The distribution of the genus Phormictopus is restricted to the Greater Antilles.
Arthropoda 15(4): 2-51
The genus Magulla Simon 1892 is revalidated and redescribed. The female of the type species M. obesa Simon 1892 is redescribed and the male is described for the first time. Magulla janeirus (Keyserling 1891) is considered a valid species. Magulla symmetrica Bucherl 1949 is transferred to Plesiopelma Pocock 1901, and considered a junior synonym of P. insulare (Mello-Leitao 1923). Additionally, two new species are described from Brazil: M. buecherli n. sp. from Ilhabela, Sao Paulo and M. brescoviti n. sp. from Sao Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul.
Zootaxa 1814: 21-36
We describe Kochiana new genus to accommodate a small Brazilian theraphosine species described originally as Mygale brunnipes by Koch (1842), resulting in Kochiana brunnipes new combination. Recently, specimens were rediscovered in northeastern Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. A preliminary cladistic analysis using equal weights parsimony and implied weights, was carried out to examine its phylogenetic placement. Kochiana new genus was monophyletic in all trees regardless of weighting scheme or concavity used. There is preliminary evidence for Kochiana new genus monophyly and weak evidence for its placement as sister group of Plesiopelma. Kochiana new genus can be characterized by the presence of a hornshaped spermatheca in females and males with a palpal bulb having prolateral accessory keels and a well developed medial crest on the embolus apex.
Journal of Arachnology 36: 402-410
The tarantula genus Ephebopus Simon 1892 is reviewed and includes the type species, E. murinus (Walckenaer 1837),and E. uatuman Lucas, Silva & Bertani 1992, E. cyanognathus West & Marshall 2000, E. rufescens West & Marshall2000 and Ephebopus foliatus, sp. nov., from Guyana. Ephebopus violaceus Mello-Leitão 1930 is transferred to Tap-inauchenius Ausserer, where it is a senior synonym of Tapinauchenius purpureus Schmidt 1995 new synonymy. Ephebo-pus fossor Pocock 1903 is considered a nomen dubium. Ephebopus occurs in northeastern South America where it isknown only from Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Spiders of the genus are generally fossorial; however,Ephebopus murinus has a developmental stage that is arboreal. A cladistic analysis of the Theraphosidae retrieves theAviculariinae as monophyletic, including Avicularia Lamarck, Iridopelma Pocock 1901, Pachistopelma Pocock 1901,Tapinauchenius, Psalmopoeus Pocock, Ephebopus, Stromatopelma Karsch and Heteroscodra Pocock, having as a syna-pomorphy the well-developed scopulae on tarsi and metatarsi I–II that is very laterally extended.
Zootaxa 1849: 35-58
Cubanana cristinae gen. et sp. nov. is described from eastern Cuba and its phylogenetic relationships are discussed. Males are characterized by presenting a denticulate subapical keel on the palpal bulbs, a nodule in the retrolateral side of the palpal tibiae and two-branched tibial spurs on legs I. Both sexes lack stridulating apparatus, possess urticating hairs of types I and III and the retrolateral side of the femora IV covered by a pad of ciliate hairs, in addition to the Theraphosinae synapomorphies. A list of currently recognized 49 genera of Theraphosinae is given, as well as data on its composition and depository institutions
of type specimens of type species.
Mygale nigrum Walckenaer 1837 is recovered as the type species of
Homoeomma Ausserer 1871.
Boletin Sociedad Entomologica Aragonesa 42: 107-122
Ten theraphosid spiders of the genera
Citharognathus Pocock 1895,
Haplopelma Simon 1892,
Chilobrachys Karsch 1891,
Yamia Kishida 1920 and
Selenocosmia Ausserer 1871 from China are described, including four new species, namely
Selenocosmia xinping sp. nov.,
S. jiafu sp. nov.,
S. xinhuaensis sp. nov., and
Chilobrachys liboensis sp. nov.
Plesiophrictus guangxiensis is transferred to the genus
Chilobrachys. Additionally, the species
Chilobrachys jingzhao Zhu, Song & Li, 2001 is newly synonymized with
Chilobrachys guangxiensis (Yin & Tan 2000)
Journal of Arachnology 36: 425-447
In this paper a new species of
Brachypelma from Veracruz, Mexico,
Brachypelma kahlenbergi n. sp., is described. Males and females are almost entirely black with red orange setae on the dorsal face of the opisthosoma. The species described here is named in honour of Herwig KAHLENBERG, Berlin, Germany, who first recognized that it is an undescribed species of Brachypelma.
Arthropoda 16(2): 26-30
A new Theraphosinae of the genus Bonnetina is described from Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico
Bol. Soc. ent. Aragonesa 43: 45-48
Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 14: 232-246 [p. 233, pl. 1, fig. 1-1].
A new genus Ami Pérez-Miles is proposed for six new species: A. caxiuana Pérez-Miles, Miglio & Bonaldo, from Caxiuanã National Forest, Pará, Brasil, the type species; A. yupanquii Pérez-Miles, Gabriel & Gallon, from the area of Puyo,
Equador; A. bladesi Pérez-Miles, Gabriel & Gallon, from Isla Colón, Panamá; A. pijaos Jimenez & Bertani, from Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia; A. amazonica Jimenez & Bertani, from Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia; and A. weinmanni Pérez-Miles, from La Azulita, Apure, Venezuela. Avicularia obscura (Ausserer 1875) is transferred to Ami and re-diagnosed.
Diagnostic characters of Ami are the modification of Type I urticating hairs, with unusually longer area b, and one or two subconical processes on retrolateral face of male palpal tibiae. Females of Ami differ further from those of other theraphosid
genera by their highly characteristic spermathecae: paired ventral receptacles attached to an almost discrete, semicircular, sclerotized back-plate.
Zootaxa 1915: 54–68
Present paper describes two species of spiders discovered during a study on the
diversity of spiders of Kerala state, India. These species belong to the genera
Sason (Barychelidae) and Annandaliella (Theraphosidae). Annandaliella ernaku-
lamensis new species discovered from Ernakulam is characterized by a tibial
apophysis in the form of short broad lobe of comb-like series of stout black
spines and a characteristically different stridulatory spines on the chelicerae.
Sason robustum is a redescription of the species based on a new specimen.
Both species are illustrated and fully described during the study. SEM studies
were undertaken in A. ernakulamensis sp. nov.
Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 15: 29-34
Two new species of Pamphobeteus Pocock 1901 are described from Brazil: Pamphobeteus crassifemur sp. nov. and
Pamphobeteus grandis sp. nov.; Pamphobeteus nigricolor, formerly described from Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, is
recorded from Brazil and its distribution in Ecuador and Bolivia is questioned. A new type of stridulatory organ is
described from legs III and IV of P. crassifemur sp. nov. The structure consists of spiniform setae. Stridulation occurs
when the spider moves the legs III and IV, sometimes while shedding urticating hairs.
Zootaxa 1826: 45-58 [p. 48, f. 1-12]
Chaetopelma Ausserer 1871 and Nesiergus Simon 1903 are revised. Cratorrhagus Simon 1891 is considered a junior synonym of Chaetopelma. Cratorrhagus tetramerus (Simon 1873) and the female of Cratorrhagus concolor (Simon 1873) are conspecific with C. olivaceum (C. L. Koch 1841). Ischnocolus gracilis Ausserer 1871, Ischnocolus syriacus Ausserer 1871, Chaetopelma shabati Hassan 1950 and Ischnocolus jerusalemensis Smith 1990 are also treated here as junior synonyms of C. olivaceum. Chaetopelma adenense Simon 1890 is proposed as a junior synonym of Ischnocolus jickelii L. Koch 1875. Chaetopelma gardineri Hirst 1911 is transferred to Nesiergus. Hence, Chaetopelma comprises three valid species: C. olivaceum (C. L. Koch 1841); C. karlamani Vollmer 1997; C. concolor (Simon 1873) n. comb. from the Middle East and northeastern Africa. Nesiergus, which appears endemic to the Seychelles archipelago, now comprises three valid species: N. gardineri (Hirst 1911) n. comb.; N. halophilus Benoit 1978; N. insulanus Simon 1903.
Zootaxa 1753: 34-48
The genus Tmesiphantes Simon, 1892 is revised. The type-species, T. nubilus Simon, 1892, is redescribed and three new species are described from the state of Bahia, Brazil: T. amadoi sp. nov., T. bethaniae sp. nov. and T. caymmii sp. nov. In addition, Tmesiphanthes physopus Mello-Leitão, 1926 and T. minensis Mello-Leitão, 1943 are transferred to Plesiopelma Pocock, 1901. T. chickeringi is considered species inquirenda.
Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 24: 971-980
The genus Plesiophrictus belongs to the subfamily Ischnocolinae of the mygalomorph family Theraphosidae and is reported from China, India, Micronesia and Sri Lanka (Platnick, 2007). Amongst the Indian genera of the family Theraphosidae, Plesiophrictus is a relatively species-rich genus (Siliwal et al., 2005; Siliwal & Molur, 2007). Pocock (1899) established the genus Plesiophrictus with description of three species, P. millardi and P. collinus from India and P. tenuipes from Sri Lanka, assigning P. millardi as the type species. Later, a number of new species were described from India under this genus (Pocock, 1900; Gravely, 1915, 1935; Tikader, 1977). After the establishment of the genus Plesiophrictus, the two Indian species, Ischnocolus linteatus Simon, 1891 and Stichoplastus fabrei Simon, 1892 were transferred to this genus by Pocock (1900) and Simon (1903), respectively. This genus was considered endemic to South Asia until the Micronesian species Ischnocolella senffti Strand, 1907 was transferred to this genus by Roewer (1963). Recently, Yin & Tan (2000) described a new species, P. guangxiensis from China. Till date, 16 species have been reported under this genus from the world, of which 13 are endemic to India, one endemic each to China and Sri Lanka and one endemic to the islands of Micronesia (a conglomerate of 9 countries) (Platnick, 2007). Most of the species described from India are known only from the type localities; information on range and geographical variations are limited. More than fifty percent of the species were described a century ago based on very few morphological characters, missing details used in present day taxonomy like morphometry of legs, description of genital structure especially of female, illustrations, sternum, male palp and female spermatheca (see Simon, 1891, 1892; Pocock, 1899, 1900; Strand, 1907; Gravely, 1915, 1935). The more recent descriptions of P. meghalayaensis and P. mahabaleshwari by Tikader (1977) are also incomplete as they lack morphometry of legs, comparison with other species and diagnosis for the species. This paper is an effort to describe a new species based on a female specimen after comparing the available prominent characters with other known species. The objective of this paper is not only to describe a new species, but also provide South Asian arachnologists with a standard description pattern on theraphosids or any mygalomorph spider along with pictures (see Images in the web supplement) in addition to figures as a useful tool for comparative studies. None of the past descriptions of Plesiophrictus spp. includes notes on natural history or ecology, which we have added as noted during our study.
Zoo's Print Journal 22: 2853-2860
The genus Oligoxystre Vellard 1924 is revised. Pseudoligoxystre Vol 2001 is synonymized with Oligoxystre and its typespecies, P. bolivianum Vol 2001, is considered valid. The type-specimen of Oligoxystre auratum Vellard 1924, type-species by original designation, is considered lost. No additional material matching the original description was found and
therefore the species is diagnosed from the original description. Four new species, all from Brazil, are also described: O. caatinga, O. dominguense, O. tucuruiense, and O. rufoniger. Data on natural history of O. bolivianum from field and captivity observations are presented. The genus Cenobiopelma Mello-Leitão & Arlé 1934 ) is based upon Cenobiopelma mimeticum Mello-Leitão & Arlé 1934 for which no type was ever designated and hence both are considered nomina nuda.
Zootaxa 1555: 1-20
Cyriocosmus perezmilesi sp. n. from Bolivia, Beni province, is described, diag- nosed and keyed inside the inner group of
Cyriocosmus Simon 1903 which is represented by species with reduced paraembolic apophysis in male palpal bulb structures. The new species can be distinguished from all other cogeners, ex- cept
C. blenginii Pérez-Miles 1998, by uniformly coloured carapace and lateral four-striped pattern on abdomen.
C. perezmilesi sp. n. differs from
C. blenginii by presence of the reduced paraembolic apophysis and bicolour femora (reddish brown, distally black).
Revta Ibérica Aracnol. 14: 63-68
The genus Guyruita gen. nov. and two new species from Brazil are described. Holothele waikoshiemi (Bertani & Araújo, 2005) from Venezuela is transferred here to the new genus. Guyruita gen. nov. differs from the remaining Ischnocolinae by the following features: labium densely occupied by a lot of cuspules (more than 100), intercheliceral intumescence absent, posterior sternal sigilla remote from margin, tarsal claws without teeth, tarsal scopula I-II undivided (tarsus II with a line of sparse setae, which does not divide the scopula), III-IV divided.
Revta bras. Zool. 24: 991-996
Psalmopoeus langenbucheri sp. n. differs from most Psalmopoeus spew
des yet known in its small size. The body length of the female (holotype) is
37,0 mm and of the male 21 ,5 mm (without chelicera and spinnerets). Its
pal pal bulb with the long and thin embolus is similar to that of some species
of Tapinauchenius , its length is 3,5 mm. In the female the length of the
receptacula seminis is 1,6 mm, the spermathecae belong to the P. reduncus-
type. There are some differences between the spermathecae of subadult and
adult females.
Tarantulas of the World 121/122: 3-17
A new species from Juruti River Plateau, Juruti, Pará, Brazil that fits the generic characters of Megaphobema is described. Megaphobema teceae n. sp. differs from the other four species known in this genus mainly by the presence of a conspicuous post-ocular process. This is the first record of the genus to both oriental Amazon and Brazil.
Zootaxa 1115: 61-68
Holothele waikoshiemi sp. n. (Theraphosidae, Ischnocolinae) is described based
on two females and a juvenile from Venezuela. The new species is distinguished
by leg I being the longest limb, incrassate tibia I and spermathecae shape.
Revta Iberica Arachnol. 12: 13-16
Avicularia hirschii is one of the smaller species of the genus. The male has instead of a tibia spur a lot of thick black spines similar to those of
Avicularia versicolor (Walckenaer, 1837) from Martinique and Guadeloupe. Tufts of red hairs on the tarsi and the opisthosoma arranged in two rows framing the black middle section are typical. The length of the urticating hairs of type II is 0,10 - 0,17 mm. The embolus is long and tapered. The spermathecae are similar to those of
A. azuraklaasi Tesmoingt, 1996 from Peru. Juvenile spiders are almost white coloured with black stripe on the opisthosoma. There is no Christmas tree pattern as in other
Avicularia species.
Tarantulas of the World 124: 3-17
New insights to the subfamily Ornithoctoninae are presented and its genera are redefined. Moreover two new species are described, which have been subject of studies by the senior author for many years.Ornithoctonus aureotibialis sp. n. can be distinguished from all other Ornithoctonus species by an orange – golden fringe of hairs on retrolateral side of patella and tibia of leg I and II. The other new species, Haplopelma longipes sp. n., is easily recognised by its very long leg IV (RF < 90) in females.Ornithoctonus aureotibialis sp. n., is long time known in pet trade as Haplopelma sp. “aureopilosum”. It was recently described by SCHMIDT & SAMM 2005 as “Haplopelma chrysothrix”, a name, which is not available according to the ICZN, as no type depository was included in the description. The same happened with “Haplopelma vonwirthi” SCHMIDT 2005, which is unavailable as well, but is most probably a synonym of Haplopelma minax(THORELL 1897).
Arthropoda 13(2): 2-27