Two fancy spines and a collar: a taxonomic review of the myrmecomorphic spider genus Mazax O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898 (Araneae: Corinnidae: Castianeirinae) in South America
Author
Silva-Junior, Cláudio J.
C8E02B43-84FB-4C56-8B7D-36D71E9013EA
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Coordenação de Zoologia, Laboratório de Aracnologia, Av. Perimetral, 1901, Terra Firme, CEP 66077 – 830, Belém, Pará, Brazil. & Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia – Universidade Federal do Pará – Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
claudiojr.uepa@gmail.com
Author
Martínez, Leonel
7F82A759-C552-454A-925E-88E1E11D9C6F
División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “ Bernardino Rivadavia ” CONICET, Avenida Ángel Gallardo 470, CP: 1405 DJR, C. A. B. A., Buenos Aires, Argentina.
leonelmarbio@gmail.com
Author
Villarreal, Eduardo
7282CB31-E53C-4697-B8A8-C30BD5699B83
Grupo de Investigación Biodiversidad del Caribe Colombiano, Semillero de Investigación Sistemática de Artrópodos Neotropicales, Departamento de Biología, Universidad del Atlántico, Barranquilla, Colombia.
edsuardo95@gmail.com
Author
Bonaldo, Alexandre B.
118CFCBA-BD7E-4F15-8412-4979159298BA
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Coordenação de Zoologia, Laboratório de Aracnologia, Av. Perimetral, 1901, Terra Firme, CEP 66077 – 830, Belém, Pará, Brazil. & Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia – Universidade Federal do Pará – Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
bonaldo@museu-goeldi.br
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2024
2024-11-13
968
1
219
255
https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/download/2731/12539
journal article
10.5852/ejt.2024.968.2731
2118-9773
14170468
C4CDECB3-B960-4AB5-819F-7464D785F5F4
Genus
Mazax
O.
Pickard-Cambridge, 1898
Mazax
O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898: 275
, pl. 34 fig. 2
(
type
species:
Mazax spinosa
Pickard-Cambridge, 1898: 276
, by monotypy).
Mazax
–
Reiskind 1969: 258
.
Diagnosis
Mazax
differs from all other American genera of
Castianeirinae
by the presence of a long, rugose abdominal pedicel collar (
Figs 4E
,
17E–F
) and by the dorsal abdominal scutum bulging strongly anteriorly (
Figs 3B, E
,
8B, E
,
16B, E
;
Reiskind 1969
: figs 282–283, 285). The presence of spiniform
AS
II inserted on tubercles (
Figs 8E
,
10E
) is also informative, but they are absent in both sexes of
M. ajax
and
M. xerxes
, and in females of
M. chickeringi
,
M. mokana
sp. nov.
, and
M. leonidas
sp. nov.
A similarly developed pedicel collar and modified
AS
II also occur in the Asian genus
Serendib
Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001
.
Mazax
can be distinguished from
Serendib
by having the PER straight or slightly recurved (
Figs 4B
,
7A
) (strongly recurved in
Serendib
;
Zhang & Zhang 2023
: figs 1a, 4a),
AS
I short or absent (very long in
Serendib
;
Zhang & Zhang 2023
: fig. 3a–b), and by the presence of a chemosensory patch on the male palpal cymbium (
Figs 6C
,
19D
) (absent in
Serendib
;
Zhang & Zhang 2023
: fig. 8a, c).
Key to the species of
Mazax
O.
Pickard-Cambridge, 1898
1. Males ................................................................................................................................................. 2
– Females ........................................................................................................................................... 12
2. Carapace darker posteriorly (
Fig. 15D–E
;
Reiskind 1969
: fig. 280) ................................................ 3
– Carapace otherwise ........................................................................................................................... 4
3. Tibia I ventral spination 4-4, RTA present, spiniform
AS
II present (
Fig. 14D–F, I–J
) (
Colombia
) .. .............................................................................................................................
M. leonidas
sp. nov.
– Tibia I ventral spination 5-5, RTA absent,
AS
II absent (
Reiskind 1969
: figs 226–229, 280–281) (
Costa Rica
) ...............................................................................................
M. xerxes
Reiskind, 1969
4. Tibia I ventral spination 2-1 or 3-2 ................................................................................................... 5
– Tibia I ventral spination 3-3, 4-4, or 5-4 ........................................................................................... 7
5. Tibia I ventral spination 2-1; embolus long (¼ of bulbus length) and straight (southern
Mexico
) .... ........................................................................................................................
M. ajax
Reiskind, 1969
– Tibia I ventral spination 3-2; embolus otherwise ............................................................................. 6
6. Embolus long (nearly ¼ of bulbus length) but twisted at tip; pedicel collar short (⅛ of abdomen length), thoracic groove present (
Cokendolpher 1978
: figs 1–7) (Southwest
USA
) .......................... ..........................................................................................................
M. kaspari
Cokendolpher, 1978
– Embolus short (more than ⅒ of bulb length); pedicel collar long (¼ of abdomen length), thoracic groove absent (
Figs 16D–I
,
17A, E
,
19A–B
) (
Brazil
) ............................................
M. tembe
sp. nov.
7. Tibia I ventral spination 3-3 (
Fig. 3D–F, I–J
) (
USA
to
Colombia
) .................
M. pax
Reiskind, 1969
– Tibia I ventral spination 4-4 or 5-4 ................................................................................................... 8
8. Tibia I ventral spination 5-4 (
Fig. 10 D–F, I–J
) (South America) ...................................................... ..........................................................................................
M. acanthaspis
(
Simon, 1896
)
comb. nov.
– Tibia I ventral spination 4-4 .............................................................................................................. 9
9.
AS
II inserted on large tubercle (tubercle approximately half the length of the setae) (
Fig. 8E
) ... 10
–
AS
II inserted on small tubercle (tubercle less than ⅓ the length of the setae) (
Figs 14E
,
15E
) ....11
10. Carapace without feathery setae, thoracic groove absent; embolus twisted (
Fig. 8D–F, I–J
) (Central America to
Colombia
) ..............................................................................
M. spinosa
(
Simon, 1898
)
– Carapace with feathery setae, thoracic groove present; embolus not twisted and without keels (
Fig. 13D–J
) (
Argentina
) .......................................................
M. ramirezi
Rubio & Danişman, 2014
11. RTA present (
Fig. 14D–F, I–J
) (
Colombia
) ........................................................
M. mokana
sp. nov.
– RTA absent (
Reiskind 1969
: figs 222–225, 282) (
Jamaica
) ...............
M. chickeringi
Reiskind, 1969
12. Neck between ST II and ST I very long (1.0 times length of ST II) (
Reiskind 1969
: fig. 239 ........... ........................................................................................................................
M. ajax
Reiskind, 1969
– Neck between ST II and ST I short (less than half length of ST II) (
Figs 3H
,
6A
,
10H
) ............... 13
13. Carapace bicolored ......................................................................................................................... 14
– Carapace otherwise ......................................................................................................................... 15
14. CO inconspicuous, under groove of epigynal surface, ST II globular (
Reiskind 1969
: figs 226–227, 280–281) (
Costa Rica
) ...............................................................................
M. xerxes
Reiskind, 1969
– CO conspicuous, small and semi-circular, ST II oval (
Fig. 15A–C, G–H
) (
Colombia
) ..................... .............................................................................................................................
M. leonidas
sp. nov.
15. Spiniform
AS
II present (
Fig. 4E
) ................................................................................................... 16
– Spiniform
AS
II absent (
Figs 7A
,
8B
) ............................................................................................ 20
16.
AS
II inserted on small tubercle (less than ⅓ of setal length), carapace without feathery hairs (
Cokendolpher 1978
: figs 1–7) (
USA
) ............................................
M. kaspari
Cokendolpher, 1978
–
AS
II inserted on large tubercle (more than ⅓ of setal length), carapace with feathery hairs (
Figs 3A–B, D
,
4E
,
5
) ..................................................................................................................... 17
17. ST II lung-shaped; tibia I ventral spination 5-5 or 5-4 ................................................................... 18
– ST II globose; tibia I ventral spination 3-3 ..................................................................................... 19
18. Tibia I ventral spination 5-4; ST II proximal region wider than distal region, CD strongly sinuous (
Fig. 12A–D, G–H
) (
Argentina
) ............................................
M. ramirezi
Rubio & Danişman, 2014
– Tibia I ventral spination 5-5; ST II proximal region of same width as distal region, CD nearly straight (
Figs 9A–D
,
10A–C, G–H
) (South America) .....
M. acanthaspis
(
Simon, 1896
)
comb. nov.
19. CO located below a short transversal groove, ST I narrow (nearly ⅓ of ST II width); abdomen dark gray ventrally (
Fig. 3A–C, G–H
) (
USA
to
Colombia
) ...................................
M. pax
Reiskind, 1969
– Transversal groove above CO absent; ST I wide (nearly ½ of ST II width); abdomen white ventrally (
Fig. 12A–C, J–K
) (
Brazil
) .....................................................................................
M. tembe
sp. nov.
20. Tibia I ventral spination 5-5 or 6-6, thoracic groove absent (
Figs 7A–C
,
8A–C, G–H
) (Central America to
Colombia
) ..............................................................................
M. spinosa
(
Simon, 1898
)
– Tibia I ventral spination 4-4, thoracic groove present (
Figs 9A
,
12A
) ........................................... 21
21. CO positioned nearly superimposed on spermathecae in ventral view, CD straight (
Reiskind 1969
: figs 222–223) (
Jamaica
) .....................................................................
M. chickeringi
Reiskind, 1969
– CO positioned laterally to spermathecae in ventral view, CD curved (
Fig. 14A–C, G–H
) (
Colombia
) ..........................................................................................................
M. mokana
sp. nov.