New collection records for Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) in Angola, with the description of a remarkable new species of Ceratogyrus

Abstract

During 2015 and 2016 several baboon spider specimens (Araneae: Theraphosidae) were collected in central Angola during surveys undertaken for the Okavango Wilderness Project. These collections represent range and habitat extensions for Pterinochilus Pocock, 1897, Ceratogyrus Pocock, 1897 and Phoneyusa Karsch, 1884. The new species Ceratogyrusattonitifersp. n. is described from female specimens and the distribution of genera mapped. Central and eastern Angola is severely under sampled for theraphosid spiders, with every species collected during the survey either being potentially new to science or representing a significant range extension for the genus.

Two new endemic species of Bistriopelma (Araneae: Theraphosidae) from Peru, including a new remarkable horned tarantula

“…The other known genus of Theraphosidae that have a similar feature is the African Ceratogyrus (De Wet & Dippenaar-Schoeman 1991;Peters 2000) as mentioned above. Recently, the new remarkable species C. attonitifer Engelbrecht, 2019 was described having a uniquely long soft protuberance (Midgley & Engelbrecht 2019). However, the foveal protuberance found in the genus Bistriopelma is fully sclerotized, similar to that of all other genera where it is known to occur.…”

“…Unfortunately, this character is highly variable among species and now also appears to be variable among sexes. These structures range from almost absent to protruding projections on the back of the carapace (De Wet & Dippenaar-Schoeman 1991;Gargiulo et al 2018;Midgley & Engelbrecht 2019) and their homology has not yet been studied among the various occurrences in Theraphosidae. It can thus hardly be used as diagnostic for some genera and should be treated as homoplastic, appearing as a convergence in a few species of Theraphosidae (Gallon 2001).…”

Angolan highlands peatlands: Extent, age and growth dynamics

“…The highlands are the only source region of the Okavango Delta, an area rich in species diversity (Marazzi et al, 2017;Yurco et al, 2017). Civil war between 1975 and 2002, and widespread minefields have hindered access to the highlands (Conradie et al, 2016;Midgley and Engelbrecht, 2019) for nearly 50 years, and despite its hydrological and ecological significance, it remains little studied. The NGOWP has undertaken the most widespread scientific research in the highlands over the last decade.…”

Fire regime of peatlands in the Angolan Highlands

“…Apart from the natural store of fossil fuels, peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store and are important in regulating global climate (Friedlingstein et al, 2019 ; Rieley & Page, 2016 ; Xu et al, 2018 ). Due to the Angolan Civil war from 1975 to 2002 and widespread minefields, the eastern Angolan Highlands region remains under-studied (Conradie et al, 2016 ; Midgley & Engelbrecht, 2019 ). However, a recent land use/land cover (LULC) classification for the region estimates that the extent of peatlands is at least 1634 km 2 within an area spanning 61,590 km 2 (Lourenco et al, 2022a ).…”