The genus Holothele Karsch, 1879: the identity of the type species (Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae)

Abstract

The genus Holothele Karsch, 1879 has a confusing taxonomic history, mainly due to a imprecise and outdated generic diagnosis, perpetuated since its original description. In this work, we propose a new diagnosis for the genus, redescribe the type species Holothele recta Karsch, 1879 and propose a few taxonomic changes. Holothele longipes is here considered as a senior synonym of

First record of Holothele longipes (L. Koch, 1875) (Araneae, Theraphosidae) from Ecuador

“…Populations currently identified as H. longipes show slight morphological variation in genitalia and more substantial variation in colour. Several authors have suggested that H. longipes might be a species complex (Guadanucci et al 2017;Sherwood and Gabriel 2019;Guadanucci 2020). Herein, we present the first report of H. longipes from Ecuador.…”

“…Compound images were obtained by stacking a series of photographs taken at different depths using an Olympus DP73 digital camera and processed with the staking and tools of Adobe Photoshop v. 23.5. Information on species for comparative diagnoses was obtained from the literature (Rudloff 1997;Maréchal 2005;Guadanucci et al 2017;Sherwood and Gabriel 2019;Guadanucci 2020).…”

“…We found specimen ZSFQ-i8269 active at 21h52 on top of a wood plank under a Ficus tree and near a ravine used as a waste dump in a disturbed area near old plantations and roads. The two specimens from Ecuador in GBIF ( 2022) are reported as Holothele recta Karsch, 1879, a synonym of H. longipes (sensu Guadanucci et al 2017). Although we did not examine these specimens, J.P. Guadanucci, a specialist in this genus, identified them in 2007 but did not include them in Guadanucci et al (2017).…”

“…Holothele longipes is reported from localities across northern South America, with published records from French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia, extending from near sea level in Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago to above 4500 m elevation in Bolivia (Guadanucci et al 2017;Sherwood and Gabriel 2019;Guadanucci 2020). Populations currently identified as H. longipes show slight morphological variation in genitalia and more substantial variation in colour.…”

“…The genus Holothele Karsch, 1879 (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Ischnocolinae) currently includes five species of spiders distributed in the Caribbean-Holothele culebrae (Petrunkevitch, 1929); H. denticulata (Franganillo, 1930); H. maddeni (Esposito & Agnarsson in Bloom et al, 2014); H. shoemakeri (Petrunkevitch, 1926); and H. sulfurensis Maréchal, 2005)-and one species in northern South America-H. longipes (L. Koch in Ausserer, 1875) (Guadanucci et al 2017;Guadanucci 2020;Mori and Bertani 2020). Among the ischnocolines, Holothele differs in having a wider than long or trapezoidal labium with more than 30 cuspules (Guadanucci 2020).…”