An Overlooked Species of Enigmatic Wolf Spider (Araneae: Lycosidae) Clarifies the Mysterious Distribution of its Sibling

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  An Overlooked Species of Enigmatic Wolf Spider (Araneae: Lycosidae) Clarifies the Mysterious Distribution of its Sibling Abstract Several wolf spiders exhibit a peculiar geographical distribution. One good example of this is Pardosa aenigmatica Tongiorgi, 1966, recently recognized in Italy and the Middle East but missing in the Balkans. A comparison of populations from the disjunctive areas revealed that they would be better described as two distinct species. As a result, here we describe Pardosa sepidehae sp. nov. The paper includes detailed descriptions and comparative illustrations of male and female copulatory organs for the newly discovered species and P. aenigmatica. Pardosa sepidehae sp. nov. is distributed in the Middle East, whereas P. aenigmatica remains endemic to the Apennine Peninsula. Adile Akpinar, Petr Dolejš "An Overlooked Species of Enigmatic Wolf Spider (Araneae: Lycosidae) Clarifies the Mysterious Distribution of its Sibling," Annales Zoologici, 76(29), ...

A survey of Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ascension Island with description of a new species of Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994

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A survey of Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ascension Island with description of a new species of Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994

Abstract

An updated checklist of the gnaphosid spiders of Ascension Island – comprising five species, in five genera – is presented, based on examination of historical and new specimens from across Ascension, including its islet Boatswain Bird Island. The continued presence of the non-native Marinarozelotes jaxartensis (Kroneberg, 1875), Urozelotes rusticus (L. Koch, 1842), and Zelotes laetus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872), previously recorded by prior workers, is confirmed. Two species are newly recorded from the island: Synaphosus syntheticus (Chamberlin, 1924) from the mainland and Australoechemus vickyae sp. nov. (♂♀) from both Boatswain Bird Island and the mainland.

Sherwood D, Marusik YuM, Sharp A, Ashmole P (2023) A survey of Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Ascension Island with description of a new species of Australoechemus Schmidt & Piepho, 1994. African Invertebrates 64(3): 291-302. https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.64.113946