On Venezuelan pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae)
Author
Huber, Bernhard A.
33607F65-19BF-4DC9-94FD-4BB88CED455F
Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany.
b.huber@leibniz-zfmk.de
Author
Villarreal, Osvaldo
679C385E-B068-4351-9D2F-97753E534C26
Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela. & Museu Nacional / UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
osvaldovillarreal@gmail.com
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2020
2020-10-01
718
1
317
journal article
10.5852/ejt.2020.718.1101
4069574
F9E9A91E-488C-4DB1-9361-E788E9AC5BC1
Priscula
Simon, 1893
Notes
Priscula
is a largely Andean genus, with 13 of the now 20 described species endemic to
Venezuela
. However, at least
Peru
and
Colombia
are known to have numerous undescribed species present in collections (B.A. Huber, B. Rodríguez-Anillo, unpubl. data), so the actual species richness is certainly much higher.
Most Andean records are from mid to high altitudes (~
1000–2700 m
a.s.l.), and the genus has rarely been found on the lower slopes of the Andes towards the Amazon basin [e.g.,
P. binghamae
(Chamberlin, 1916)
near Yucumo,
Bolivia
, at
500 m
a.s.l.] or in low Andean valleys (e.g.,
P. paeza
Huber,
2000
in Depto
del Valle,
Colombia
, at
400 m
a.s.l.) (
Huber 2000
). In
Venezuela
, most western species (in the states of
Táchira
,
Mérida
,
Trujillo
,
Lara
) are from mid to high altitudes, while in the east (
Miranda
,
Monagas
,
Sucre
),
Priscula
can commonly be found below
500 m
a.s.l.
Of the now 13 nominal species in
Venezuela
, 12 are treated below. For
Priscula tunebo
Huber, 2000
we have no new data except for rough locality coordinates:
Táchira
, Pregonero, Camp. Siberia
[approximately
7.89° N
,
71.72° W
], “Laldea”. In 2020 we collected very close to this place (probably less than
5 km
) but the only
Priscula
we found was
P. andinensis
González-Sponga, 1999
.