Further notes on the Harmochireae of Africa (Araneae, Salticidae, Pelleninae)

The Generation of a Biodiversity Hotspot: Biogeography and Phylogeography of the Western Indian Ocean Islands

“…A few groups of spiders have been recently revised, or revisited, in some cases offering preliminary biogeographical speculations (Coyle 1995;Platnick 1995;Griswold 1997;Corronca 2003;Huber 2003;Agnarsson and Kuntner 2005;Agnarsson 2006;Knoflach and Van Harten 2006;Kuntner 2006Kuntner , 2007Huber and ElHennawy 2007;Wood, Griswold, and Spicer 2007;Wood 2008;Logunov 2009;Lyle and Haddad 2010;Ubick and Griswold 2011). Though the evidence is not strong, these studies generally indicate the closest living relatives of the Indian Ocean island fauna being from Africa, consistent with the Cenozoic dispersal model outlined above, the likely exception being the seemingly Gondwanan migids and arhaeids (Griswold and Ledford 2001;Wood, 2008;Wood, Griswold, and Spicer 2007).…”

Taxonomic notes on the Harmochirina Simon, 1903 from South and South-East Asia (Aranei: Salticidae)

“…The type locality only (Map 1: asterisk). To date, the genus Neaetha has been known from the Afrotropical Region and the Mediterranean area (including the Near East and the Caucasus) of the Palaearctic Region [Logunov, 2009;WSC, 2018]. It is the first record of the genus from South Asia and the Oriental Region.…”

“…With the absence of the male, it is not easy to assign M. ghigii to a correct genus. Yet, it is obvious that the species belongs neither to Modunda Simon, 1901, as none of the four diagnostic characters of the latter genus (see Logunov [2001: 270]) can be found in M. ghigii, nor to the Harmochireae (sensu Logunov [ , 2009). The species seems to belong to the subtribe Thiratoscirtina of the tribe Aelurillini (sensu Maddison [2015]) containing 14 Afrotropical genera, and, in my opinion, could be provisionally Figs 32-36.…”

“…According to Maddison [2015], the salticid subtribe Harmochirina Simon 1903 of the tribe Plexippini Simon, 1901 consists of 15 valid genera. Although the majority of these genera were either recently revised in the scope of world fauna (e.g., Logunov [ , 2009) or described (e.g., Prószyński [1992]; Logunov [2000;), a number of Harmochirina species remain known from their original descriptions only. Some of these species (e.g., Bianor balius Thorell, 1890, B. leucostictus Thorell, 1890) were transferred to the genus Stertinius Simon, 1890 (see Metzner [2018]; WSC [2018]), belonging to the subtribe Simaethina in the tribe Viciriini [Maddison, 2015].…”