Taxonomic Revision of the Spider Genus Actinopus Perty, 1833 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Actinopodidae)

Abstract

Actinopus Perty, 1833 is characterized and redescribed, including 80 species occurring from Panama to Argentina. Eighteen previously known species are redescribed: A. rufipes (Lucas, 1834); A. longipalpis C. L. Koch, 1842; A. nattereri (Doleschall, 1871); A. crassipes (Keyserling, 1891); A. robustus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1892); A. wallacei F. O. P.-Cambridge, 1896; A. princeps Chamberlin, 1917; A. xenus Chamberlin, 1917; A. fractus Mello-Leitão, 1920; A. paranensis Mello-Leitão, 1920; A. pusillus Mello-Leitão, 1920; A. dubiomaculatus Mello-Leitão, 1923; A. trinotatus Mello-Leitão, 1938; A. cucutaensis Mello-Leitão, 1941; A. echinus Mello-Leitão, 1949; A. clavero Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018; A. gerschiapelliarum Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018; and A. palmar Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018. Additionally, A. tarsalis Perty, 1833, the type species, A. insignis (Holmberg, 1881) and other 18 species recently described species from Argentina and Bolivia, are re-evaluated. Forty-two new species are described: Actinopus castelo sp. nov., A. apalai sp. nov., A. mairinquensis sp. nov., A. obidos sp. nov., A. buritiensis sp. nov., A. pinhao sp. nov., A. ducke sp. nov., A. hirsutus sp. nov., A. jaboticatubas sp. nov., A. confusus sp. nov., A. pampulha sp. nov., A. candango sp. nov., A. paraitinga sp. nov., A. cornelli sp. nov., A. vilhena sp. nov., A. harveyi sp. nov., A. itapitocai sp. nov., A. ipioca sp. nov., A. itaqui sp. nov., A. xingu sp. nov., A. mesa sp. nov., A. caxiuana sp. nov., A. utinga sp. nov., A. emas sp. nov., A. bocaina sp. nov., A. osbournei sp. nov., A. dioi sp. nov., A. tutu sp. nov., A. azaghal sp. nov., A. itacolomi sp. nov., A. parafundulus sp. nov., A. urucui sp. nov., A. reznori sp. nov., A. anselmoi sp. nov., A. guajara sp. nov., A. apiacas sp. nov., A. jamari sp. nov. from Brazil; A. laventana sp. nov. from Argentina and Uruguay; A. lomalinda sp. nov. from British Guiana and Colombia; A. concinnus sp. nov. from Venezuela and Brazil; A. pindapoy sp. nov. from Argentina; A. panguana sp. nov. from Peru. The females of A. dubiomaculatus and A. cucutaensis and the males of A. nattereri are described for the first time. New records are presented for A. clavero; A.crassipes; A. dubiomaculatus; A. fractus; A. gerschiapelliarum; A. nattereri; A. palmar; A. paranensis; A. princeps, A. pusillus, A. robustus and A. wallacei. Ten old species names are herein considered species inquirendae: A. caraiba (Simon, 1889); A. harti Pocock, 1895; A. liodon (Ausserer, 1875); A. nigripes (Lucas, 1834); A. pertyi Lucas, 1843; A. piceus (Ausserer, 1871); A. rojasi (Simon, 1889); A. rufibarbis Mello-Leitão, 1930; A. scalops (Simon, 1889) and A. valencianus (Simon, 1889). Most species presently recognized were included in 11 informal groups based mainly on male palpal characters. A key for these groups plus three species, not included in any group, but known from males, is presented.

Description of the female of Actinopus balcarce Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018 (Araneae, Actinopodidae), with comments on its natural history

“…Systematics 2023  9 (4) The discontinuous thoracic fovea and sternum with deep central depression are characters shared within males of A. goloboffi Ríos-Tamayo, 2014, A. excavatus Ríos-Tamayo &Goloboff, 2018 andA. balcarce. These three species grouped by Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff (2018) in their 'type III morphology' while Miglio et al (2020) grouped them in the 'goloboffi' group. The females of A. goloboffi also have these two morphological features present in males, but curiously females of A. excavatus have a continuous thoracic fovea (Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018).…”

“…The females of A. goloboffi also have these two morphological features present in males, but curiously females of A. excavatus have a continuous thoracic fovea (Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018). Miglio et al (2020) mentioned that males of A. gerschiapelliarum also have a discontinuous thoracic fovea, but she did not include this species inside the 'goloboffi' group. Moreover, according to Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff (2018), the females of A. gerschiapelliarum have a continuous thoracic fovea.…”

“…patagonia Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018;A. puelche Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018, and A. szumikae Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018(Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff, 2018Miglio et al, 2020;World Spider Catalog, 2023). Actinopus balcarce was described based on two males from Balcarce, Buenos Aires, and its female remains unknown.…”

DISTRIBUCIÓN EN PANAMÁ DE Actinopus robustus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1892) (ARANEAE -ACTINOPODIDAE): MÁS ALLÁ DE LA LOCALIDAD TIPO

“…Actinopus robustus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1892) have been reported by several authors to be at least in two localities in Panama (Quintero, 2005;Miglio et al, 2020;Sherwood et al, 2023). In this work it is presented the non-reported localities of A. robustus deposited in the venomous arthropods reference collection of the Invertebrate Museum G. B. Fairchild of the Universidad de Panamá.…”

Promoting excellence of monographs in taxonomy

“…It is my great delight to announce the publication of the first monograph in Megataxa on 80 species of mygalomorph spiders of the genus Actinopus (Miglio et al 2020). This monograph was originally submitted to Zootaxa and edited by Dr Robert Raven.…”