Delimitation and description of 19 new genera, a subgenus and a species of Salticidae (Araneae) of the world
Author
Prószyński, Jerzy
text
Ecologica Montenegrina
2016
2016-05-26
7
4
32
https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2016.7.1
journal article
10.37828/em.2016.7.1
2336-9744
13224403
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4171B7E1-BE6F-48ED-85B4-4DC2C232A273
Gen.
Myrmarachne
MacLeay, 1839
Figures 1A–D
,
2A–C
,
3A–B
Type
species
.
Myrmarachne melanocephala
MacLeay, 1839
.
Documentation studied.
Comparative diagnostic drawings of 103 species in
Prószyński (2016a)
at http://www.peckhamia.com/salticidae/q24-
Myrmarachne
.html, and original literature.
Remarks
. Representative, most speciose genus of the informal group of genera MYRMARACHNINES restricted now to
Myrmarachne tristis
and
formicaria
groups of species of
Wanless (1978)
, containing 103 identifiable species, there are also 106 unrecognizable nominal species and 128 synonyms. Females of all these species can be identified by having loop-like detour in the anterior third of “
pipes-like
” spermathecae (
Figs. 2A–C
). Males are recognizable by corkscrew-like, short tibial apophysis with flange, and by additional thin loop of spermophor in male palps (
Figs. 3A– B
). Other characters, popularly used, are unreliable and do not permit to separate these spiders from other genera: body shape is variable, with various constrictions of carapace and abdomen as well as color pattern (
Figs. 1A–D
), chelicerae of males are enormously enlarged, but vary, sometimes as long as carapace, but may be longer, or shorter. The copies of almost all diagnostic drawings of
Myrmarachne
available in the world literature, as well as the list of all nominal species and synonymic names are given in
Prószyński (2016a
, b).
Distribution.
Myrmarachne
(
sensu stricto
) occurs in warm and temperate areas of the Old World,
Australia
and Pacific Islands, with distributional centers in tropical Africa and Asia. One species migrated recently to North America.