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Arachnologische

Heft 47

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

ISSN 1018-4171

www.AraGes.de/aramit

Natural History Museum Library

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300017041

Arachnologische

Mitteilungen

Schriftleitung:

Theo Blick, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung,

Terrestrische Zoologie, Projekt Hessische Naturwaldreservate, Senckenberganlage 25,

D-60325 Frankfurt/M., E-Mail: theo.blick@senckenberg.de, aramit@theoblick.de
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E-Mail: sascha.buchholz@tu-berlin.de

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Theo Blick, Frankfurt Dr. Sascha Buchholz, Berlin

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Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: I 50, i iii

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 1-6

First record of the exotic spitting spider Scytodes fusca (Araneae, Scytodidae) in
Central Europe from Germany and Slovakia

Anna Sestäkovä, Ludmila Cerneckä, Jonathan Neumann & Nils Reiser

doi: 10.5431/aramit4701

Abstract. The spitting spider Scytodes fusca Walckenaer, 1837 is recorded for the first time in Central Europe from
both Germany and Slovakia. The species was found in two localities, within the Botanical Garden in Bratislava (Slova-
kia), specifä ca I ly from a heated greenhouse with high humidity, and the "Tropical Islands”, a tropical holiday resort in
Krausnick (Germany). It seems that this Pantropical species has probably been introduced here along with imported
plants. A description of diagnostic characters, as well as figures, is given.

Keywords: artificial tropical ecosystem, botanical garden, first record, introduced species

Zusammenfassung. Neunachweis der exotischen Speispinne Scytodes fusca (Araneae, Scytodidae) in Mitte-
leuropa aus Deutschland und der Slowakei. Die Speispinne Scytodes fusca Walckenaer, 1 837 konnte erstmals für
Mitteleuropa in Deutschland und der Slowakei nachgewiesen werden. Die Funde stammen aus dem Botanischen
Garten in Bratislava (Slowakei) sowie aus dem Freizeitbad „Tropical Islands" in Krausnick (Deutschland). Es wird ver-
mutet, dass die pantropische Art durch Zierpflanzen eingeschleppt wurde. Die charakteristischen Merkmale der Art
werden beschrieben und abgebildet.

The genus Scytodes consists of 215 species and 4
subspecies distributed worldwide with the largest
diversity (>100 species) in the Neotropical region.
The majority of them are found in Brazil (76 spe-
cies) (Rheims & Brescovit 2009, Platnick 2013).
Spitting spiders are well known for their unusual
hunting technique which involves spitting a sticky
mass. They attack other arthropods by ejecting a
mixture of silk and glue at them, immobilizing the
prey long enough to allow safe envenomation (Suter
&c Stratton 2013).

Previously, only one species of the genus, Scytodes
thoracica (Latreille, 1802), was known from Cen-
tral Europe. In Europe nine species of Scytodes have
been recorded, plus three species occurring only in
the Canary Islands. Most of them are only known
from the Mediterranean region, but four Pantropi-
cal species have been imported into Europe: Scytodes
fusca Walckenaer, 1837, S. longipes Lucas, 1844, S. lu-
gubris (Thoreil, 1887) and S. venusta (Thoreil, 1890)

Anna SESTÄKOVÄ, The Western Slovakian Museum, Müzejne nämestie 3,
Trnava, SK— 91 809 Slovakia, e-mail: asestakova@gmail.com
Ludmila CERNECKÄ, Department of Production Ecology, Institute of
Forest Ecology of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Zvolen, SK-96053,
Slovakia, e-mail: cernecka@savzv.sk

Jonathan NEUMANN, Harrosteig 35, 1 2524 Berlin, Germany,

email: jonathan.neumann@uni-potsdam.de

Nils REISER. Zietenstraße 7-9, 10783 Berlin, Germany,

e-mail: nils-reiser@gmx.de

submitted 29. 12. 2013, accepted 22. 2. 2014, online 27. 3. 2014

(Brignoli 1976, van Helsdingen 2012, Nentwig et al.
2013, Platnick 2013). The new spider for the Cen-
tral European arachnofauna reported here, S. fusca, is
known from the Americas, tropical Africa, Asia (from
Indomalaya to Japan) (for more details see Brignoli
1976) and Southern Europe (Cardoso 2011).

The spitting spider S. fusca is known to be synan-
thropic, having adapted to life inside houses in Brazil
(Brescovit &c Rheims 2000, Araujo et al. 2008). In
Australia, it seems to be communal-territorial, living
in large colonies and practicing a primitive form of
maternal care (Bowden &c Jackson 1988, Bowden
1991, Yap et al. 2011).

Methods

Three Botanical Gardens were sampled: two in Slo-
vakia (Bratislava, Kosice) and one in the Czech Re-
public (Brno). Specimens were found in only one of
them, in Bratislava (Slovakia); and only in one of
three tropical rooms of the greenhouse. Specimens
were collected from their webs found beneath stones.
In Germany all specimens were found in the tropical
holiday resort “Tropical Islands” in Krausnick (near
Berlin). Most of the spiders were also discovered be-
neath objects, as in Slovakia.

Specimens were identified using Nentwig et al.
(2013). Tie vulva was macerated in 4 % hydroxide So-
lution and dyed in a water solution of Amido Black.
Photographs were taken using EOS Utility Software

A. Sestäkovä, L. Cerneckä, J. Neumann & N. Reiser

Fig. 1 : Female of Scytodes fusca with egg sack. - Photo: A. Ses-
täkovä

and a Canon EOS 1100D digital camera connected
to a Zeiss Stemi 2000-C stereomicroscope. Digital
images were montaged and edited using Photoshop
CS6. The material is preserved in 70 % ethanol and
deposited in the The Western Slovakian Museum in
Trnava and in the private collections of Nils Reiser
and Jonathan Neumann. One female was sent to
Arno Grabolle (Weimar) and one to Tobias Bauer
(Stuttgart).

Results and discussion
Material examined

Females with egg sacks (Fig. 1) and numerous juve-
niles were observed in both countries. In Germany
several adult males were found, but in Slovakia only
one subadult male was collected; which matured un-
der laboratory conditions.

GERMANY: 2 2$, 2 juv (19 January 2013); 1 6, 7 22, 2 juv
(5 March 2013); 2 66, 4 juv (7 March 2013): heated hall of

“Tropical Islands”, Krausnick, 50°2’20.48”N; 13°44’54.75“E,
78 m a.s.l., leg. J. Neumann & N. Reiser.

SLOVAKIA: 1 juv (12 December 2012); 2 22, 1 juv (25
April 2013), 1 6 (collected as subadult 31 July 2013): in
one of three heated greenhouses in the Botanical Garden of
Comenius University, Bratislava, 48°8’49.2”N; 17°4’20.97”E,
148 m a.s.l., leg. M. Holecovä & A. Sestäkovä.

Diagnosis

This species could be confused with Scytodes velutina
Heineken & Lowe, 1832 in Europe. Females of S.
fusca have an epigynal fovea as wide as high, not nar-
row as in S. velutina , and the spermathecae have long,
recurved stalks; very short in S. velutina.The carapace
is usually much darker so the pattern is hardly visible,
in comparison to S. velutina with a visible pattern.
Males and juveniles can be distinguished by distinct
patterns of the carapace and abdomen. Male bulbus
with long, narrow terminal portion in comparison to
the broad one in S. velutina (Brignoli 1976, Saaristo
1997).

Description

Medium sized and short-legged species (Valerio
1981). Females (ca. 6 mm, carapace 2.5 — 3.0 mm)
are dark, without distinct pattern on habitus; legs
are uniformly brown with darker femora (Figs 2a, b).
Vulva with reduced atrium, one pair of small sperma-
thecae with recurved stalks and - under epigastrium
- more or less triangulär foveae (Fig. 2c).

Males (4.0 - 5.5 mm, carapace ca. 2.5 mm) with
distinct pattern on carapace and transverse pale and
dark stripes on abdomen (Figs 3a, b). Legs uniform-
ly yellowish. Bulbus has a slender terminal portion
(Figs 3c, d). Juveniles with distinct patterns as in
males (Fig. 4).

I 0-5 mm |

Fig. 2: Female habitus
of Scytodes fusca. a) dor-
sal vlew; b) ventral view;
c) vulva, macerated. -
Photo: A. Sestäkovä

Scytodes fusca in Germany and Slovakia

Fig. 3: Malehabitusof Scy-
todes fusca. a) dorsal view;
b) ventral view; c - d) left
male palp, c) prolateral,
d) retrolateral. - Photo: A.
Sestäkovä

Distribution and natural history

The spitting spider Scytodes fusca was originally
described from Cayenne, French Guiana (Wal-
ckenaer 1837). Other historical records have been
reported from the Afrotropics (e.g. Lessert 1939,
Millot 1941), Australasia (e.g. Chrysanthus 1967),
Indomalaya (e.g. Doleschall 1859, Kulczyriski
1911) and the Neotropics (e.g. Taczanowski 1872,
Simon 1891, Cambridge 1899, Banks 1903, 1909,

Mello-Leitäo 1918). Besides the tropics, it was also
introduced to less suitable regions like the Nearctic
(Paquin et al. 2008) and Palaearctic (Wang et al.
1985, Ono 2009, Cardoso 2011), although it ap-
pears restricted here to Botanical Gardens (Sin-
gapore: Brignoli 1976; Slovakia: present paper)
and similar artificial tropical ecosystems (Canada:
Paquin et al. 2008; Germany: present paper). Van
der Hammen (1949) found a single specimen of a

Fig. 4: Juvenile habitus of
Scytodes fusca. a) dorsal
view; b) ventral view. -
Photo: A. Sestäkovä

A. Sestäkovä, L Cerneckä, J. Neumann & N. Reiser

Fig. 5: Underside of a stone showing one female of Scytodes fusca (circle) with two webs (arrows) belonging to female and juvenile.
- Photo: A. Sestäkovä

Scytodes species, identified as S. fusca, in the green-
house of the Botanical Garden in Leiden (the
Netherlands). According to van Helsdingen (1999)
it was misidentified with S. venusta. This species
has never been found again in the Netherlands (van
Helsdingen pers. comm.).

Although it was described as native to French
Guiana, it is commonly associated with human
habitations throughout Central and South America
( Valerio 1981, Brescovit & Rheims 2000). In its natu-
ral habitat, it can be found in dark, dry places, such as
the underside of rocks, under loose tree bark, in the
nests of small mammals (Valerio 1981, Brescovit &
Rheims 2000) and also in caves (Yap et al. 2011). It is
a slow-moving, nocturnal spider that prefers crevices
and cavities, and is thus not easy to find. We presume
it was imported into Central Europe togethcr with
plants, as was the case in Quebec, Canada, where this
species was found on foliage of palm trees in interior
landscaping that mimicked Neotropical rainforests
(Paquin et al. 2008). “Tropical Islands” in Germany
is quite new (openecl in 2004) and plants were im-
ported directly from Thailand and Costa Rica (Green
pers. comm.).

The populations in both locations in Germany and
Slovakia seem to be large. Our observations recorded
this species mainly on the underside of stones (Figs
5, 6a) and in “Tropical Islands” also under the bark
of rotten trunks infested with termites. Specimens
were observed in small webs consisting of a loose
tangle of silk with a funnel retreat (Fig. 5). No speci-
mens were found on walls - which would be typical
for specimens living synanthropically - but in Ger-
many several specimens occupied the crevices of the
stone sculpture (Fig. 6h). Bowdcn & Jackson (1988)
found some Australian populations of S. fusca to be
communal-territorial, building web-complexes on
tree trunks. We found no other mention of the social-
ity of this species in the published literature. Düring
our observations, adult and subadult specimens were
found living alone and, although small juveniles were
in high abundance, they lacked web-complexes.

Scytodes fusca is a tropical species; therefore its oc-
currence in Central Europe is most likely restricted
to artificial tropical ecosystems such as heated green-
houses or water-based theme parks. lhe only previ-
ously published record of this species in Europe is
from Portugal (Cardoso 2011). Although informa-

Scytodes fusca in Germany and Slovakia

Fig. 6:The specific habitat in the artificial tropical ecosystems of "Tropical Islands" Krausnick (Germany). a) stones; b) stone sculpture.
- Photo: J. Neumann

tion about the habitat preferences of the Portuguese
specimen were not published, we found that it was
collected living in low garrigue Vegetation near Mon-
te Gordo in the Algarve during April, 1982 (Murphy
pers. comm.). Moreover, Murphy mentioned he col-
lected this species in many countries with a similar
habitat to that in Portugal in the Mediterranean re-
gion, but never published these records. Thus a revi-
sion of the records of the similar-looking species S.
velutina should be undertaken. Specimens from Slo-
vakia were found numerously in only one of the three
tropical rooms of the greenhouse.The primary reason
for this could be the presence of stones around the
paths, as these were missing in the other rooms. Brief
observations in other Botanical Gardens in Kosice
and Brno suggested an absence of this species. Al-
though both gardens had a factor in common - too
few stones — the real reason could be simpler: the
species S. fusca was never introduced there.

Acknowledgements

We thank the personnel of the Botanical Gardens of the
Comenius University in Bratislava, P. J. Safarik University
in Kosice, Mendel University in Brno and the Tropical
Islands in Krausnick. Our thanks also go to Bernd Green
for the wonderful cooperation and to Peter van Helsdingen,
John Murphy and Pedro Cardoso for valuable information
and publications. We are grateful to Mandy Howe for im-

proving our English and remarks on the early manuscript
Version, and Theo Blick and the reviewers for their useful
comments. Last but not least, we thank Milada Holecovä,
Jana Christophoryovä and Katarina Krajcovicovä for their
help in the field.

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Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 7-13

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Revisiting the taxonomy of the rare and tiny comb-footed spider
Carniella brignolii (Araneae, Theridiidae)

Barbara Thaler-Knoflach, Ambros Hänggi, Karl-Hinrich Kielhorn & Bodo von Broen

doi: 10.5431/aramit4702

Abstract. Carniella brignolii Thaler & Steinberger, 1 988 was first described based on a male from Austria and still be-
longs to the rare, scarcely studied species. Based on material from Germany and Switzerland the hitherto unknown
female now can be assigned and presented. In this context a new synonymy is also proposed:The cave-dwelling,
troglomorphic C. mihaili (Georgescu, 1 989) from Romania, originally established as new genus Marianana, is syno-
nymised with C. brignolii.

Keywords: Carniella mihaili, cave-dweller, description, female, Marianana, new synonymy

Zusammenfassung. Ergänzungen zur Taxonomie der seltenen Zwergkugelspinne Carniella brignolii (Ara-
neae, Theridiidae). Carniella brignolii Thaler & Steinberger, 1 988 wurde nach einem Männchen aus Österreich erst-
mals beschrieben und gehört noch immer zu den seltenen und wenig untersuchten Arten. Mit rezentem Material
aus Deutschland und der Schweiz kann nun das bisher unbekannte Weibchen zugeordnet und dargestellt werden.
In diesem Zusammenhang wird außerdem eine neue Synonymie vorgeschlagen: Die höhlenbewohnende, troglo-
morphe C. mihaili (Georgescu, 1989) aus Rumänien, ursprünglich Typusart der neuen, inzwischen eingezogenen
Gattung Marianana, wird mit C. brignolii synonymisiert.

The genus Carniella was first established by Thaler
&. Steinberger (1988) based upon a single European
species, C. brignolii , from Carinthia, the eponymous
region in Austria. Apparently, the generic nomen-
clature is rooted in the ancient name “ Carnia for
Carinthia. Several species from Southeast Asia and
one from Africa have been added in the last deca-
des (Miller 1970, Wunderlich 1995, Knoflach 1996,
Ono et al. 2007; see also Platnick 2014). Nae (2012)
transferred a cave-dwelling, troglomorphic species
described by Georgescu (1989) from Romania, Ihe-
onoe mihaili , into Carniella , and thus added a second
European species to the genus.

The most prominent character of Carniella is the
clypeal modification of the male (Thaler & Steinber-
ger 1988, Knoflach 1996), which easily allows Classi-
fication at generic level. Moreover, the male genital
organ shows particular characteristics, such as a basal
position of the cymbial hook and the absence of ti-
bial trichobothria (Knoflach 1996, Agnarsson 2004).

Barbara THALER-KNOFLACH, Institute of Ecology, University of
Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.

E-Mail: barbara.knoflach@uibk.acat

Ambros HÄNGGI, Naturhistorisches Museum Basel,

Abteilung Biowissenschaften, Augustinergasse 2, CH-4001 Basel.

E-Mail: ambros.haenggi@bs.ch

Karl-Hinrich KIELHORN, Albertstr. 10, D-10827 Berlin,

E-Mail: kh.kielhorn@gmx.de

Bodo von BROEN, Fürstenwalder Straße 17, D-10243 Berlin
submitted 15. 1. 2014, accepted 4. 3. 2014, online 27. 3. 2014

Females are less conspicuous. All representatives are
small-sized, with a body length of approximately 1
mm. According to their dwarfish appearance and
their hidden subterranean life, records are rare and
the state of knowledge scanty.

Here we present new taxonomic amendments
for the type species C. brignolii from Europe, inclu-
ding the description of the female based on material
from Germany and Switzerland and a new synony-
my, which reveals that the female was already known
under another species name. A male with an unin-
flated genital organ previously recorded by Hänggi
& Stäub li (2012) allows synonymisation with C. mi-
haili.

Material and methods

Specimens were first examined and arranged using a
Leica Wild M8 stereoscopic microscope. Male and
female genitalia were dissected and studied as tem-
porary mounts by submerging them in glycerine on
half-covered, hollow slides under a Wild M20 com-
pound microscope equipped with a drawing tube
and micrometer eyepiece. Owing to the scarcity of
the material legs were not removed and instead mea-
surements had to be taken from leg drawings from
the entire specimens placed on glycerine slides. As a
consequence, some of the limbs could not be orien-
ted exactly horizontal to the optical axis of the mi-
croscope, as if they were separated from the body.

B. Thaler-Knoflach, A. Hänggi, K.-H. Kielhorn & B. von Broen

Abbreviations: bH basal haematodocha, E - em-
bolus, MA - median apophysis, P - “paracymbium”
or cymbial hook, S - subtegulum, T - tegulum, V
- protrusion of basal haematodocha (nomenclature
of male palp mainly sensu Agnarsson 2004 and Ag-
narsson et al. 2007).

Depository and museum abbreviations: NMB
Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, ZMB -Museum
für Naturkunde Berlin

Results and discussion

Carniella brignolii Thaler 8c Steinberger, 1988

C. brignolii Thaler 8c Steinberger, 1988: Male, n. sp.,
p. 998,figs. 1-4, 9-15. Type locality Warmbad Villach,
Carinthia, Austria.

C. b.\ Le Peru, 2011: Male, p. 376, 436, figs. 663-664
(described and redrawn from Thaler 8c Steinberger,

1988) .

C. b.\ Hänggi 8c Stäubli, 2012: Male, p. 59, hg. 2, Zü-
rich, Switzerland.

Marianana mihaili Georgescu, 1989: Female, n. gen.,
n. sp., p. 89, figs. 17-26. Type locality Movile Cave,
Dobrogea, Mangalia, 43.82568 N/ 28.56068 E, 1-2
m a.s.l., SE-Romania. nov. syn.

Theonoe mihaili\ Le Peru, 2011: Female, p. 411, 468,
fig. 794 (described and redrawn from Georgescu,

1989) .

Carniella mihaili ; Nae, 2012: Male, p. 68, figs. 1-12,
Movile Cave, Romania.

Material examined

1 $ (NMB; ARAN-20603), Switzerland, Zürich, freight
terminal, in pitfall-trap between trackgravel,2.6.- 1 6.6.2009,
N47.3834/E8.5167 (+- 10m), 400 m a.s.l., leg. Anna Stäubli
(Hänggi 8c Stäubli 2012). 1 9 (NMB, ARAN-25740),
Switzerland, Valais (Wallis), Miege, edge of organic parcel
of vineyard, 27.5.1997, N46.31459/E7.55782 (+- 50m),
720-740 m a.s.l., pitfall-trap, leg. M. Genini (site “MB” in
Genini 2000). 1 9 (ZMB; B602), Germany, Brandenburg,
Neuenhagen (Bad Freienwalde), gravel pit, in pitfall-trap
on coarse sand, 2. 5. -2. 6. 1 997, N52.83982/E14. 02679, 2 m
a.s.l., leg. M. Sommer, coli. Bodo von Broen.

Carniella brignolii , the type species of the genus
Carniella Thaler 8c Steinberger, 1988, was so far
known only from the male, at least nominally. Tie
corresponding female was described almost at the
same time by Georgescu (1989) as new genus Mari-
anana and new species M. mihaili ; see synonymy
list.

Diagnosis

Males of Carniella brignolii are easily recognised by
their modified clypeus (Fig. 4) and the conformation ol
their palpal sclerites (Figs. 5-8; further figures see Tha-
ler 8c Steinberger, 1988): Embolus complex with distal
spiral, tip of cymbium with noticeable recess and basal
haematodocha with a specific, conspicuous apophysis,
which largely protrudes beyond the male palp when
expanded (V, Tialer 8c Steinberger 1988, Nae 2012
sub C. mihaili). As in other members of the genus, the
“paracymbium” or cymbial hook is situated on the base
of the cymbial retromargin, a conductor is missing and
the palpal tibia lacks any trichobothria. Females show a
rounded epigynal cavity with a clear septum.

Description ot female

Colouration, measurements, somatic features (Figs.
1-3): Carapace, Sternum and legs uniformly light
brown, abdomen greyish. Carapace 0.44/0.50 mm
long, 0.35/0.38 mm wide, Sternum 0.29/0.31 mm
long and 0.26/0.27 mm wide. Sternum tapering pos-
teriorly. Chelicerae with three denticles on anterior
margin of fang groove.

Leg measurements: Female from Branden-
burg (mm): Femur/tibia/metatarsus/tarsus: Palp
0.20/0.08/-/0.16. Leg I 0.29/0.16/0.14/0.21. Leg II
0.28/0.16/0.12/0.19. Leg III 0.23/0.13/0.11/0.20.
Leg IV 0.31/0.20/0.13/0.23.

Legs: 4123. Trichobothrial pattem (numbers of
prodorsal/retrodorsal trichobothria of tibiae): I-II
1/2, III 2/1, IV 2/2. Metatarsi I-II with 1 trichobo-
thrium, its position on I 0.35, on II 0.45. Metatarsi
III and IV without trichobothrium. Tarsi and distal
metatarsi ventrally with serrate bristles. Tarsal organ
I-IV (I 0.32, II 0.35, III 0.31, IV 0.32). Tarsi I-IV
1.5, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.8 times longer than metatarsi.

Epigynum/vulva (Figs. 9, 11, 13): Epigynal cavity
is a rounded, 0.1 mm wide, well outlined field, which
is clearly divided along the midiine by a longitudi-
nal ridge. Copulatory orifices not clearly traceable.
Copulatory ducts rather short, presumably starting
at midiine, running forwards at short distance and
then backwards, entering at the anterior region of the
receptacula seminis. Recurring part of ducts sclero-
tised. Receptacula seminis globular, at side margins
of epigynal cavity.

Synonymy

We consider Carniella mihaili as a new synonym of
C. brignolii. Originallv, C. mihaili was decribed by

Revisiting the taxonomy ofCarniella brignolii

Figs. 1-4: Carniella brignolii Thaler & Steinberger, 1988. Female from Switzerland, Valais (1-2) and from Germany, Brandenburg (3).
Male from Switzerland, Zürich (4). Carapace, dorsal view (1, 3-4) and prosoma, ventral view (2). Scale lines: 0.2 mm.

Georgescu (1989) based on a single female represen-
ting the type species of the new genus Marianana.
This monotypic genus later was synonymised by
Wunderlich (2008) with Theonoe (see also Platnick

2014). With the additional knowledge based on ma-
les, Nae (2012) transferred T. mihaili into Carniella
and thus the genus Marianana has to be listed as a
junior synonym of Carniella.

B. Thaler-Knoflach, A. Hänggi, K.-H. Kielhorn & B. von Broen

Figs 5-8: Carniella brignolil Thaler & Steinberger, 1988, from
Switzerland, Zürich. Right male palp without tibia, in retrola-
teral (5), ventral (6) and prolateral view (7). Outlines of distal
cymbium of left palp in dorsal view (8). Arrow points to broken
tip of cymbium (6). Scale lines: 0.1 mm.

Revisiting the taxonomy ofCorniella brignolii

Figs. 9-13: Carniella brignolii Thaler & Steinberger, 1988. Female from Switzerland, Valais (9, 1 1), Germany, Brandenburg (13) and
Romania (10, 12; taken from Georgescu 1989; sub C. mihaili). Epigynum/vulva, ventral (9, 10, 13) and dorsal view (11, 12). In Fig. 13
the epigynum was drawn from the entire female without being dissected. Scale lines: 0.1 mm.

B. Thaler-Knoflach, A. Hänggi, K.-H. Kielhorn & B. von Broen

Fig. 14: Distribution of Carniella brignolii. Austria: Warmbad
Villach (Thaler & Steinberger 1988). Belgium: Corphalie site
along River Meuse (Baert & Van Keer 1991). Germany: Bavaria,
Halblech, Ostallgäu (Dröschmeister 1995); Brandenburg (see
above). Switzerland: Zürich (Hänggi & Stäubli 201 2); Valais, Mie-
ge (see above). Romania: Movile Cave (Nae 201 2).

The excellent and highly accurate descriptions of
Georgescu (1989) of the female and Nae (2012) of
the male allow synonymisation of C. mihaili based on
the literature. Nae (2012) already indicated notice-
able similarities with C. brignolii regarding the male
palp, but at that time only males with fully inflated
palps were known and illustrated (figures see Thaler
8c Steinberger 1988). In the cave-dwelling males
from Romania the palpal membranes were not ex-
panded and thus the obvious protrusion of the basal
haemotodocha, ‘typicar for C. brignolii , was hidden
(abbreviated as “V” in Thaler 8c Steinberger 1988).
A male with one uninflated genital organ (Figs. 5-7),
previously recorded by Hänggi 8c Stäubli (2012),
now strcngthens the synonymy.

The following characters argue for the synonymy
suggested herein. In the male palp, the basal hae-
matodocha ends as a marked, sclerotised apophysis,
which largely protrudes beyond the bulbus in the
expanded palp (“V” in Thaler 8c Steinberger 1988
and Nae 2012). The cymbium shows distally a typical
recess (Fig. 8; tip of cymbium unfortunately broken
in the palp presented herc, see Fig. 6). The embolus

is complex with a distal embolus spiral and several
small, sclerotised projections as well as a larger hya-
line one (abbreviated as TA in Thaler 8c Steinberger
1988 and EB in Nae 2012). The females agree in the
rounded shape of the epigynal cavity with a clear
septum, in the course of the copulatory ducts and the
position of the receptacula (see Georgescu 1989; and
Figs. 9, 13 vs. 10 and 11 vs. 12). Clypeal modification,
shape of the Sternum and carapace, size parameters
and cheliceral dentation are likewise in accordance.

There still remains the problem of eye reduction.
In the Romanian specimens from Movile Cave the
median eyes are completely reduced. Reduction or
loss of eyes is regarded as being among the mor-
phological adaptations to subterranean and cave life
(Rüzicka 1999, 2009, Rüzicka et al. 2013). A wide
ränge of Variation in eye size is known also for other
soil living spiders, e.g. in the genus Porrhomma (see
Rüzicka 2009, Rüzicka et al. 2013). Therefore, it is
suggested that this character is not appropriate for
species discrimination in the particular case of Carn-
iella brignolii and C. mihaili , as no other noticeable
differences exist.

Distribution

The distribution of C. brignolii has just recently been
updated by Hänggi 8c Stäubli (2012). Few, scattered
records come from Austria (Thaler 8c Steinberger
1988), Belgium (Baert 8c van Keer 1991), Germany
(Dröschmeister 1995) and Switzerland (Hänggi 8c
Stäubli 2012), see Fig. 14. For further details and ha-
bitat preferences see Hänggi 8c Stäubli (2012). With
the new synonymy the ränge of distribution can be
expanded to SE-Europe (specifically Romania) whe-
re a population with adaptations to cave life exists.

Acknowledgments

Wc are deeply indebted to Jason Dunlop (Berlin) for the
linguistic revision of the manuscript and to Lukas Rinnhofer
(Innsbruck) for mapping Fig. 14.

References

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Racovitza» 51: 67-72

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the families Theridiidae and Anapidae (Araneae) from
Southern Taiwan. - Memoirs of the National Science
Museum Tokyo 44: 71-82

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American Museum of Natural History. - Internet: http://
research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog (Theridi-
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Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 14-18

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Die Gemeine Baldachinspinne, Linyphia tricingularis (Araneae: Linyphiidae),
Europäische Spinne des Jahres 2014

Christoph Hörweg

doi: 1 0.543 1/aramit4703

Abstract. The common hammock-weaver, Linyphia triangularis (Araneae: Linyphiidae), European spider of
the year 2014. The European spider of the year 2014, Linyphia triangularis (Clerck, 1757), is presented. For the first
time it is a linyphiid spider, a hammock-weaver. Its characteristics (e.g., ecology, habitat, web, phenology) are briefly
described.The modality of the voting is given as well as numerous links to the supporting societies and to distribu-
tion maps.

Keywords: award, hammock-web spiders, populär

Zusammenfassung. Die europäische Spinne des Jahres 2014, Linyphia triangularis (Clerck, 1757), wird vorgestellt.
Erstmals ist es eine Linyphiide, eine Baldachinspinne. Ihre Merkmale und Eigenschaften (z.B. Ökologie, Lebensraum,
Netz, Phänologie) werden kurz beschrieben. Der Wahlmodus, die beteiligten Länder und zahlreiche Links zu den
unterstützenden Gesellschaften und Verbreitungskarten werden genannt.

Die Gemeine Baldachinspinne Linyphia triangularis
(Clerck, 1757) gehört zur Familie der Baldachinspin-
nen (Linyphiidae). Diese Familie stellt weltweit nach

Christoph HÖRWEG, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien,

3. Zoologische Abteilung, Burgring 7, A-1 01 0 Wien, Österreich,

E-Mail: Christoph. hoerweg@nhm-wien.ac.at

Dieser Artikel ist Heiko Bellmann gewidmet, der am 7.3.2014 verstorben
ist. Er hat die Initiative „Spinne des Jahres" immer mit seinen beeindru-
ckenden Bildern unterstützt und die Spinnen dadurch richtig „anschau-
lich" gemacht.

eingereicht 25.3.2014, akzeptiert 5.4.2014, online 12.5.2014

den Springspinnen (Salticidae) mit 4482 die meisten
Arten (Platnick 2014). In Europa bilden die Balda-
chinspinnen mit 1248 Arten sogar die artenreichste
Spinnenfamilie (Nentwig et al. 2014); in Mitteleuro-
pa kommen rund 500 Arten vor.

Die Familie der Baldachinspinnen ist charakteri-
siert durch den Netzbau, viele Arten bauen - wie der
Name schon sagt - dichte, horizontal ausgespannte,
meist baldachinartige Netzteppich. Die Gemeine
Baldachinspinne selbst ist, im Gegensatz zu vielen
anderen Vertretern ihrer Familie, aufgrund ihrer

Abb. 1/Fig. 1:

Linyphia triangularis -
Habitus.

Foto/Photo: Heiko
Bellmann

Europäische Spinne des Jahres 20 1 4: Linyphia triangularis

Abb. 2: Linyphia triangu-
laris - baldachinartiges
Deckennetz.

Fig. 2: Linyphia triangula-
ris - sheet-web.
Foto/Photo: Heiko
Bellmann

Größe und ihrer auffälligen Zeichnung auf dem
Vorderkörper verhältnismäßig leicht zu identifizie-
ren (Abb. 1).

L. triangularis besiedelt große Teile der Palä-
arktis, ihr Verbreitungsgebiet umfasst aber auch die
gemäßigten bis subtropischen Zonen. Sie kommt
außer auf Island in ganz Europa vor, ihre Höhenver-
breitung reicht von der Ebene und Hügellagen bis
hinauf in montane Gebiete. Die genaue Verbreitung
im deutschsprachigen Raum bzw. in Europa ist den
einzelnen Verbreitungskarten (Helsdingen 2013,
CSCF 2014, Staudt 2014, weitere siehe unten) zu
entnehmen.

Die Art ist hinsichtlich ihres Lebensraumes wenig
spezialisiert. Als „Generalist“ trifft man sie in nicht
zu feuchten Wäldern ebenso an wie auf offenen Flä-
chen, seien es Wiesen, Waldränder oder auch Parks
und Gärten. Sie kann in allen geeigneten Lebensräu-
men sehr zahlreich Vorkommen und wird (zumindest
in der Ebene und im Herbst) als die wohl häufigste
Spinne der Kraut- und Strauchschicht bezeichnet
-(Braun &c Rabeler 1969, Hänggi et al. 1995).

Das Netz der Gemeinen Baldachinspinne wird
meist niedrig (ca. 30 cm) über dem Boden, in Grä-
sern, Stauden und Sträuchern angelegt. Es besteht
wie bei den meisten Arten der Familie aus einem
nach unten gespannten horizontalen Netzteppich,
über dem ein ca. 20 cm hohes Geflecht aus sehr
lockeren „Stolperfäden“ angelegt ist (Malt 1996)

(Abb. 2). Die Höhe kann aber in Abhängigkeit von
der Vegetation und der Jahreszeit variieren (Herber-
stein 1997). Die Spinne sitzt fast immer in Rücken-
lage an der Unterseite des Netzteppichs. Die Beute
stößt meist gegen die Stolperfäden, welche auch
nicht immer klebrig sein müssen (Peters &c Kovoor
1991), und fällt dann auf den Netzteppich, wo sie von
der Spinne erbeutet wird (Abb. 3). Das sind meist
kleinere Insekten wie Zikaden, Blattläuse, Mücken,
aber auch winzige Fliegen und Kleinschmetterlinge
gehören zum Nahrungsspektrum (Turnbull 1962,
Malt 1996).

Die Körperlänge beträgt bei beiden Geschlech-
tern etwa 5-7 mm. Der Vorderkörper ist beige-
braun gefärbt, schwarzbraun gerandet und weist ein
schwarzes Mittelband auf, das sich etwa in der Mitte
des Vorderkörpers nach vorn teilt. Diese Zeichnung
erinnert an eine Stimmgabel. Der Hinterkörper ist
gelblich-weiß mit einem breiten braunen, dunkel ge-
randeten Mittelband, das mehrfach eingeschnürt ist,
wodurch manchmal typische dreieckige Flecken zu
sehen sind. Seitlich sind ebenfalls braune Bänder und
Flecken sichtbar, die Unterseite ist dunkelbraun bis
schwarz. Die Beine sind einfarbig beigebraun (Wieh-
le 1956, Bellmann 2006, Nentwig et al. 2014).

Männchen unterscheiden sich durch einen deut-
lich schmaleren Hinterkörper und vergrößerte Che-
lizeren (Kieferklauen). Auch geht die Färbung mehr
ins rotbraune hinein (Abb. 4).

C. Hörweg

Abb. 3: Linyphia triangu-
laris mit Beute.

Fig. 3: Linyphia triangula-
ris with prey.

Verwechslungsmöglichkeiten sind v.a. mit Li-
nyphia tenuipalpis Simon, 1884 gegeben, die etwas
kleiner ist und auch etwas wärmere Lebensräume be-
vorzugt als L. triangularis. Bei L. tenuipalpis sind die
erwachsenen Tiere schon etwas früher, von Juni bis
Oktober, zu finden (Thaler 1983, Toft 1989). In Zwei-
felsfallen ist eine genaue Differenzierung nur durch
eine Untersuchung der Geschlechtsorgane möglich.
Nentwig et al. (2011) nennen die beiden Arten auch

als Beispiel für die sogenannte Kontrastbetonung.
Bei sympatrischen Vorkommen der Konkurrenten
verschieben sich die Körpergrößen bei L. tenuipalpis
zu kleineren, bei L. triangularis zu größeren Werten,
dadurch kann unterschiedlich große Beute genutzt
werden. Auf diese Weise wird die Nischenüberlap-
pung verringert und die direkte Konkurrenz geringer
(Toft 1980). Toft (1987) zeigt allerdings auch, dass
die Mikrohabitate der beiden Arten fast identisch

Abb. 4: Linyphia trian-
gularis - Weibchen links,
Männchen (mit ver-
größerten Chelizeren) re-
chts im Netz.

Fig. 4: Linyphia triangu-
laris - female left, male
(with large chelicerae) on
the right.

Europäische Spinne des Jahres 20 7 4: Linyphia triangularis

sein können, so dass andere Faktoren wie z.B. das
Makrohabitat vielleicht die entscheidende Rolle bei
der Nischentrennung spielen könnten.

Geschlechtsreife Tiere der Gemeinen Balda-
chinspinne treten von August bis Oktober auf. Paa-
rungen finden in Mitteleuropa vor allem im August
und September statt (Wiehle 1956, Braun & Rabe-
ler 1969). Die Männchen halten sich zu dieser Zeit
ständig im Netz der Weibchen auf. Zur Kopulation
sitzt das Männchen ebenfalls in Rückenlage vor dem
Weibchen und fuhrt abwechselnd seine Taster (Pe-
dipalpen) in die Geschlechtsöffnung (Epigyne) des
Weibchens ein. Die Jungtiere überwintern im Eiko-
kon (Bellmann 2006).

Linyphia triangularis ist prädestiniert als Spinne
des Jahres: Sie ist nicht nur einer der häufigsten Ver-
treter dieser prominenten Spinnenfamilie mit wun-
derbaren, leicht sichtbaren Deckennetzen, sie zeigt
auch interessante biologische Aspekte. Einer davon
ist die sogenannte „Verkehrtfärbung“, d.h. die Unter-
seite ist bei ihnen dunkler gefärbt als die Oberseite.
Obwohl sie verkehrt unter dem Deckennetz hängen,
sind die Tiere dennoch gut getarnt (Wiehle 1949).
Zudem locken die Weibchen mit Sex-Pheromonen

die Männchen ins Netz zur Paarung (Barth 2001),
und die Männchen zeigen ein als „mate guarding“
bezeichnetes Verhalten, bei dem sie selbst nach der
Paarung noch einige Zeit beim Weibchen verblei-
ben, um es vor weiteren Männchen zu „schützen“.
So soll sichergestellt werden, dass es zu keiner weite-
ren Paarung mehr kommt, damit wirklich die eige-
nen Gene an den Nachwuchs weitergegeben werden
(Toft 1989).

Auch in diesem Jahr ist der Herbst die geeignete
Jahreszeit, der Spinne des Jahres zu begegnen. Die
Netze kann man zuerst entdecken und dann lohnt
es sich auf jeden Fall, einen genaueren Blick hinein-
zuwerfen!

Wahl der Spinne des Jahres

Die Spinne des Jahres wurde von 82 Arachnologin-
nen und Arachnologen aus 26 Ländern (Albanien,
Belgien, Bulgarien, Dänemark, Deutschland, Finn-
land, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Irland, Italien,
Kroatien, Liechtenstein, Mazedonien, Niederlande,
Norwegen, Österreich, Polen, Portugal, Schweden,
Schweiz, Serbien, Slowakei, Slowenien, Spanien,
Tschechische Republik, Ungarn) gewählt.

Unterstützende Gesellschaften

Arachnologische Gesellschaft e.V. AraGes www.arages.de

Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging/Societe Arachnologique de Belgique ARABEL
www.arabel.ugent.be

The British Arachnological Society (BAS) www.britishspiders.org.uk
European Invertebrate Survey-Nederland, Section SPINED

http://science.naturalis.nl/research/ people/ cv/ eis/helsdingen/ spinnen
European Society of Arachnology ESA www.european-arachnology.org
Grupo Iberico de Aracnologia (GIA) — Sociedad Entomolögica Aragonesa (SEA)
http://www.sea-entomologia.org/gia/

Naturdata - Biodiversidade online www.naturdata.com

Verbreitungskarten

Deutschland: http://spiderling.de/arages/Verbreitungskarten/species.phpPnameUintri

Schweiz: http://lepus.unine.ch/carto/index.php?nuesp=9506&rivieres=on8dacs=on&hillsh=on&year=1990
Österreich: http:/ /www.arages.de/files/Linyphia_triangularis_Oesterreich.pdf
Tschechische Republik: http://www.pavouci-cz.eu/Pavouci.phpPstr-Linyphia_ti i angularis
Benelux: http://www.tuite.nl/iwg/ Araneae/SpiBenelux/Pspecies-Linyphia Xi20ti iangular is
Großbritannien: http://srs.britishspiders.org.Uk/portal.php/p/Summary/s/Linyphia%20triangularis
Europa: http://spiderling.de/ arages/OverviewEurope/euro_species.php?name-lintr i
http://www.araneae.unibe.ch/ data/1 256/Linyphia_triangularis

http://www.faunaeur.org/Maps/ display_map.php?map_name=euro&map_language-en8ctaxonl-3505 74

C. Hörweg

Bilder bzw. Fotogalerien

http://spiderling.de/arages/Fotogalerie/Galerie_Linyphia.htm

http://wiki.eu-arachnida.de/index.php?title=Linyphia_triangularis

Wiki des Spinnen-Forums

http://wiki.spinnen-forum.de/index.php?title=Linyphia_triangularis

Danksagung

Wie jedes Jahr gilt es Dank auszusprechen, und zwar an
Milan Rezäc, den Mitorganisator der Wahl, allen „voting
members“, den Übersetzern (auch für die Anpassung des
Infotextes an die Landesgegebenheiten), vielen Kollegen für
die Bilderbereitstellung (insbesondere seien hier Heiko Bell-
mann J7.3.2014 und die ARABEL genannt), den Betreu-
ern der Internetseiten der Arachnologischen Gesellschaft
und der European Society of Arachnology, Frank Lepper
und Samuel Zschokke, die alle Informationen aufbereiten
und zur Verfügung stellen sowie Theo Blick und Ambros
Hänggi für wertvolle Ergänzungen zur Verbesserung des
Manuskripts.

Literatur

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Spinne. Springer Berlin. 424 S.

Bellmann H 2006 Kosmos-Atlas der Spinnentiere Europas.

3. Auflage. Kosmos Stuttgart. 304 S.

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logie der Spinnenfauna des nordwestdeutschen Altmo-
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CSCF (Centre Suisse de Cartographie de la Faune) 2014
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(Skorpione, Pseudoskorpione, Spinnen, Weberknechte,
Milben). - Internet: http://www.cscf.ch/cscf/page-
20316_de_CH.html bzw. Verbreitungskarte für L.
triangularis : http://lepus.unine.ch/carto/index.phpPnue
sp=95068crivieres=on8clacs=on8chillsh=on8cyear=1990
(18. März 2014)

I Linggi A, Stöckli E 8c Nentvvig W 1995 Lebensräume
mitteleuropäischer Spinnen. Charakterisierung der Le-
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Helsdingen PJ van 2013 Araneae. In: Fauna Europaea
Database (Version 2013.1). - Internet: http://www.
european-arachnology.org/reports/fauna.shtml bzw.

http://www.faunaeur.org (21 . März 2014)

Herberstein ME 1997 'Hie effeet of habitat structure on
web height preference in three sympatric web-building
Spiders (Araneae, Linyphiidae). - The Journal of Arach-
nology 25: 93-96 ,

Malt S 1996 Untersuchungen zur Rolle ausgewählter netz-
bauender Spinnen (Araneae) im trophischen Bezieh-
ungsgefüge von Halbtrockenrasen. Dissertation, Frie-
drich- Schiller-Universität, Jena. 134 S. + 57 S. Anhang
NentwigW, Bacher S 8cBrandl R2011 Ökologie kompakt.

Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg. 371 S.
Nentwig W, Blick T, Gloor D, Hänggi A 8c Kropf C 2014
araneae - Spiders ofEurope, Version 03.2014. -Internet:
http://www.araneae.unibe.ch (21. März 2014)

Peters HM 8c Kovoor J 1991 The silk-producing System of
Linyphia triangularis (Araneae, Linyphiidae) and some
comparisons with Araneidae. - Zoomorphology 111:
1-17 -doi: 10.1007/BF01632706
Platnick NI 2014 The world spider catalog, Version 14.5.
American Museum of Natural History.- Internet: http://
research.amnh.org/iz/spiders/catalog (21. März 2014)
Staudt A 2014 Nachweiskarten der Spinnentiere Deut-
schlands (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscor-
piones). — Internet: http://spiderling.de/arages bzw.
für Linyphia triangularis'. http://spiderling.de/arages/
Verbreitungskarten/species.php?name=lintri (2. März
2014)

Thaler K 1983 Bemerkenswerte Spinnenfunde in Nordtirol
(Österreich) und Nachbarländern: Deckennetzspinnen,
Linyphiidae (Arachnida: Aranei). - Veröffentlichungen
des Museum Ferdinandeum 63: 135-167
Toft S 1980 Body size relations in sheet-web spiders in
Danish Calluna heaths. Internationaler Arachnologen-
Kongress Wien, Verlag Egermann Wien: S. 161-164
Toft S 1987 Microhabitat identity of two species of sheet-
web spiders: field experimental demonstration. - Oeco-
logia 72: 216-220 - doi: 10. 1007/BF003 79271
Toft S 1989 Mate guarding in two Linyphia species (Ara-
neae: Linyphiidae).— Bulletin of the British arachnologi-
cal Society 8: 33-37

Turnbull AL 1962 Quantitative studies of the food of
Linyphia triangularis Clerck (Araneae: Linyphiidae).
- The Canadian Entomologist 94: 1233-1249 - doi:
10.4039/Ent941233-12

Wiehle H 1949 Vom Fanggewebe einheimischer Spinnen.
Die Neue Brehm-Biicherei. Akademische Verlagsgesells-
chaft Geest 8c Portig K-G Leipzig, A Ziemsen Verlag
Wittenberg/Lutherstadt. 46 S.

Wiehle 1 I 1956 Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidae (Araneae).
28. Farn. I ünyphiidae - Baldachinspinnen.- Die Tierwelt
Deutschlands 44: 1-337

Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 19-34

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Miscellaneous notes on European and African Cheiracanthium species (Araneae:
Miturgidae)

Steffen Bayer

doi: 10.5431/aramit4704

Abstract. The African species Cheiracanthium furculatum Karsch, 1879 was recognised as being introduced to Ger-
many and is re-described and illustrated in the present study. C. tenuipes Roewer, 1961 is recognised as a junior syno-
nym of C. africanum Lessert, 1 921 (new synonymy); both subspecies of C. strasseni Strand, 1 91 5, namely C. strasseni
strasseni Strand, 1915 and C. strasseni aharonii Strand, 1 915, are recognised as junior synonyms of C. mildei L. Koch,
1864 (new synonymies). Photographie images of the copulatory organs of the types of C. cretense Roewer, 1928,
recently synonymised with C. mildei, are provided and discussed in the course of intraspecific Variation in C. mildei.
The female holotype of C. rehobothense Strand, 1 91 5 is re-described and illustrated. Relations of C. rehobothense to
other Cheiracanthium species are discussed.

Keywords: Africa, copulatory organs, Europe, intraspecific Variation, introduction, new synonymies, taxonomy

Zusammenfassung. Verschiedene Anmerkungen über afrikanische und europäische Cheiracanthium- Arten
(Araneae: Miturgidae). Die afrikanische Dornfingerspinnenart Cheiracanthium furculatum Karsch, 1 879 wurde erst-
mals nach Deutschland eingeschleppt. In der vorliegenden Studie wird sie wiederbeschrieben und dargestellt. C.
tenuipes Roewer, 1961 wird mit C. africanum Lessert, 1921 synonymisiert (neue Synonymie); beide Unterarten von
C. strasseni Strand, 1 91 5, und zwar C. strasseni strasseni Strand, 1 91 5 and C. strasseni aharonii Strand, 1915, werden
mit C. mildei L. Koch, 1 864 synonymisiert (neue Synonymien). Fotographische Abbildungen der Kopulationsorgane
derTypus-Exemplare von C. cretense Roewer, 1 928, welche vor kurzem mit C. mildei synonymisiert wurde, werden im
Rahmen der Untersuchung der intraspezifischen Variabilität von C. mildei diskutiert. Das Holotypus-Weibchen von C.
rehobothense Strand, 1915 wird wiederbeschrieben und dargestellt. Beziehungen dieser Art zu anderen Cheiracan-
thium-Arten werden diskutiert.

In July 2012 a Cheiracanthium female was found (by
chance) within a box of light green grapes from a
supermarket in Spesbach, near Kaiserslautern in
south-western Germany. The grapes were imported
from the Meknes region, Morocco. The female spe-
cimen was kept and fed until it laid an egg-sac. Af-
terwards it was identified as Cheiracanthium furcula-
tum Karsch, 1879. In the course of identification, all
relevant African and Mediterranean Cheiracanthium
species were considered. In addition, some species,
which were deposited in the arachnid collection of
the Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am
Main, Germany, and were not assessed since their
first description 50 or more years ago, were examined.
One of them, C. tenuipes, was described by Roewer
(1961) and three others by Strand (1915), namely C.
rehobothense Strand, 1915, and the two subspecies C.
strasseni strasseni Strand, 1915 and C. strasseni aharo-
nii Strand, 1915. The present study re-describes C.

Steffen BAYER, Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum,
Frankfurt am Main, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main,
Germany, E-Mail: Steffen.Bayer@senckenberg.de ^

submitted 11.11. 2013, accepted28. 4. 2014, online 14.5.2014

furculatum and evaluates the Status of the three abo-
ve-mentioned species. Interestingly, the introduction
of C. furculatum to Belgium was recently recognised
and documented by Bosselaers (2013), who also re-
ported on a possible introduction to Ireland.

Material and methods

Tire Spiders examined in the present study derive from
natural history museum or private collections, which
are listed below. Examinations and drawings were
carried out with a Leica M 165 C stereomicroscope
with a drawing mirror. Photos of preserved spiders
and copulatory organs were taken with a Sony DSC
W70 compact camera via the ocular of the stereo-
microscope. Female copulatory organs were cleared
from surrounding hairs and dissected. The (opaque)
tissue surrounding the vulva was removed mechani-
cally in order to have the best possible view on the
different vulva-structures. In the illustrations of the
present paper all epigynes are shown in ventral view
and all vulvae are shown in dorsal view, except where
otherwise noted.

All measurements (and all numbers listed next
to the scale bars) are in millimetres (mm). In the

S. Bayer

present study the “opisthosoma length" is regarded
as length ol the main part of opisthosoma only, thus
without spinnerets and petiolus. Palp and leg lengths
are listed as: total (femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus,
tarsus). Leg formula (from longest to shortest leg)
and leg spination pattem follow those in Bayer 8c
Jäger (2010) and Bayer (2012). In leg/palp spination
the limbs femur, patella, tibia and metatarsus (tarsus
in palp) are listed in exactly this sequence. First, all
spines on the prolateral surface ol the respective limb
are counted and listed, then those on the dorsal, then
retrolateral and finally the ventral surfaces. Thus the
resulting number is generally 4-digits. II a spination
pattern of a certain limb article differs between the
left and right sides, the pattern for the right article
follows in curved brackets.

Abbreviations used in the text: ALE - Anterior
lateral eye(s). AME - Anterior median eye(s). Juv. -
Juvenile. PLE - Posterior lateral eye(s). PME - Pos-
terior median eye(s). RTA - Retrolateral tibial apo-
physis. S.a. - Subadult.

Terminology of structures belonging to the
copulatory organs is given as follows: The internal
parts of the female copulatory organ (vulva) com-
prise a duct System, which can be divided into diffe-
rent sections. An initial duct (copulatory duct) leads
from the copulatory opening to the spermatheca.
It may be long, with several windings around the
spermatheca (e.g. in species like Gheiracanthium
campestre Lohmander, 1944, see Tullgren 1946, pl.
VII, fig. 78, Almquist 2006, fig. 304e). From the
spermatheca a narrow fertilisation duct leads to the
uterus externus. The latter and parts of the fertili-
sation duct are inevitably removed along with the
dissection and Clearing of the copulatory organ. The
receptaculum seminis (spermatheca) may be one
single voluminous, offen pear-shaped to elongated
kidney bean-shaped chamber (Figs 8b, 9b) or there
are two chambers connected with each other by a
narrow duct (Figs 2b, d, 3c, 4b, d, 6b, 7c), which may
build up a “compound spermatheca”. In the latter
case the initial (anterior) chamber contains an area
with numerous pores, which permit connection to
accessory glands. Apart from structures that are well
known in arachnology, e.g. conductor, spcrm duct
and embolus, the palps o $ Gheiracanthium bear par-
ticular structures, e.g. a tegular apophysis (ih some
species with special structures), a (long) cymbial

spur, etc. The terminology of these structures follows
Lotz (2007a).

Symbols/styles used in the illustrations: Regu-
lar solid lines indicate surface edges/margins/rims
of structures as recognised in the respective view;
weak solid lines indicate edges of fine structures, e.g.,
membranous structures, or wrinkles in the area of the
epigyne; dashed lines indicate inner walls of cham-
bers, ducts (and/or slits); dotted lines (rough) indi-
cate structures visible through cuticula (e.g., parts of
vulva visible through epigynal cuticula); dotted lines
(fine) indicate clear colour differences (e.g., border of
epigynal field). In schematic illustrations showing the
course of the internal duct System the area containing
numerous pores is marked with a “T”-symbol, the co-
pulatory opening with a circle and the end of the fer-
tilisation duct in direction of the uterus externus with
an arrow (Figs 2c, 6c, 8c). Arising points and/or di-
rections of tegular appendages in males are described
as clock-positions of the left palp in ventral view.

Museum collections (with curators) 8c private
collections: BPC - Steffen Bayer, private Collection,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany. MHNG - Museum
d’histoire naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland (R Schwen-
dinger). NHM - Natural ITistory Museum, London,
United Kingdom (J. Beccaloni). NHMNB - Na-
turhistorisches Museum, Nürnberg (Nuremberg),
Germany (D. Cordes). NHMW - Naturhistori-
sches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria (C. Hörweg).
OUMNH - Oxford University Museum of Natural
History, United Kingdom (Z. Simmons). SMF - Sen-
ckenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (P.
Jäger). ZMB - Zoologisches Museum (Museum für
Naturkunde), Berlin, Germany (J. Dunlop)

Taxonomy

Cheiracanthium furculatum Karsch, 1879 (Figs 1-4)
For the synonymic list see Platnick (2013)

Material examined (28,4$, 1 s.a.$). I Iolotype <3: GA BON:
Estuaire: Chinchoxo (today: Chinchoua), S 00°02’, E 09°47’;
Dr Julius Falkenstein leg. 1873-1876 (‘Loango- Expedition
der Deutsch-Afrikanischen Gesellschaft’), ZMB 2962.
GERMANY: Rhineland-Palatinate: Landkreis Kaisers-
lautern: Spesbach, supermarket, N 49°25’5l ”, E 07°3ö’46”
(vvithin a box of white grapes imported from Morocco
[origin: Morocco: Meknes- läfilalct: Surroundings of Me-
knes, approximately N 33”51’-33"57’, W 05°23’-05°39’,

Notes on Cheiracanthium

Fig. 1 a-c: Cheiracanthium furculatum, male holotype from Gabon, Estuary. a-c Left palp. a - prolateral, b - ventral, c - retrolateral
view. C: conductor, CS: cymbial spur, E: embolus, RTA: retrolateral tibial apophysis, TA: tegular apophysis.

Remark: (Pointed) tlp of cymbial spur was found broken; in c it is indicated with a dotted line, inferred from the Situation in the right
palpus.

500-700 m]); R. Bayer 8c G. Bayer leg. 04. VII. 2012, 1 2,
SMF, 1 s.a. 2 (raised from egg cocoon produced by female
listed directly before), BPC. CAP VERDE ISLANDS:
Boavista; G. Schmidt leg.; 1 2 (only vulva as microslide),
SMF 58248. Maio; G. Schmidt leg. 01.111.1995; 1 2, SMF
38567, 1 6 SMF 38566. Brava; G. Schmidt leg.; 1 2 (only
vulva as microslide), SMF 58289.

Diagnosis and Description. Lotz (2007a) treat-
ed this species in detail. However, he did not give the

measurements of the male holotype, hence, these are
added herein. Furthermore, the measurements of the
female from Morocco are listed, as this record repre-
sents the northernmost record of this species.

Male (holotype): Body and eye measurements. To-
tal length 7.8, carapace length 3.4, carapace width 2.5,
anterior width of carapace 1.6, opisthosoma length
3.6, opisthosoma width 2.0, Sternum length 1.4,

S. Bayer

a c

Fig. 2a-d: Cheiracanthium furculatum, copulatory organ of female from Germany, Rheinland-Pfalz (introduced from Morocco, Me-
knes-Tafilalet). a - Epigyne. b - Vulva, c - Schematic course of internal duct System, d - Vulva, postero-dorsal view. Dotted line (fine)
in right vulva-half indicates a broken embolus stuck therein.

sternum width 1.5, ratio carapace length/carapace
width 1.36, ratio total length of leg I/carapace length
6.29. Eyes: AME 0.19, ALE 0.16, PME 0.16, PLE
0.16, AME-AME 0.24, AME-ALE 0.17, PME-
PME 0.31, PME-PLE 0.28, AME-PME 0.17,
ALE-PLE 0.07, clypeus height at AME 0.06, clypeus
height at ALE 0.10.

Cheliceral lurrow with 2 very small promarginal
and 3 retromarginal teeth.

Measuremcnts of palp and legs. Leg formula:
1423. Palp 4.4 [1.7, 0.5, 0.7, 1.5 (without cymbial
spur) 1.7 (with cymbial spur)], I 20.4 [5.0, 1.8, 5.5,
5.8, 2.3], II 14.1 [3.7, 1.5, 3.7, 4.0, 1.2], III 10.5 [2.8,
1.1, 2.3, 3.2, 1.1], IV 16.3 [4.0, 1.5, 3.6, 5.0, 1.2],
Spination. Palp: 0200, 0000, 0000, 0000; legs:
femur I 2020, II 2010, III 4020(5030], IV 3020;
patella I-IV 0000; tibia I 00011, II 2005(2009], III
2023, IV 2022 [2023]; metatarsus I 0004, II 2004, III
3035(3036], IV 30317(30319],

Copulatory organ. Cymbium quite elongated (ca.
2.4x longer than broad), with pedestal-like extension

retrolaterally (Figs lb, 3e, 4e), retrolatero-proximal
cymbium spur (which is a typical character for ma-
les of this genus) moderately long (slightly longer
than half the length of palpal tibia without RTA)
and pointed (Figs lc, 3e, 4c); embolus very long
and filiform (2-3x tegulum width), arising at 2-3 o’
clock position on tegulum, running in a semi-circular
course prolatero-distally (Figs lb, 3e, 4e); conductor
ca. 4x as long as broad, fleshy and arising centrally
in prolateral half of tegulum; tegular apophysis with
characteristic shape: relatively broad, arising centrally
on tegulum, distally divided into two, relativelv broad
lobe-like extensions, with the prolateral slightly lon-
ger than the retrolateral one (Fig. lb); sperm duct
course hardly recognisable; palpal tibia (without
RTA) ca. 2.5 times longer than broad (Figs la, lc),
RTA slightly longer than diamcter of tegulum and
slim, distally almost pointed (Figs lb-c).

Female (adult specimen from Morocco): Body
and eye measurements. Total length 10.4, carapace
length 4.5, carapace width 3.2, anterior width of

Notes on Cheiracanthium

Fig. 3a-g: Cheiracanthium furcuiatum, photographic images of adult and primary copulatory organs and female habitus. a-b epi-
gyne (a still with mating plug), c vulva, f-g habitus, all of female, d Pre-epigyne, of subadult female, both from Germany, Rheinland-
Pfalz (introduced from Morocco, Meknes-Tafilalet). e Left palp, of male holotype from Gabon, Estuary.

carapace 2.2, opisthosoma length 5.8, opisthosoma
width 4.0, sternum length 2.1, Sternum width 1.7,
ratio carapace length/carapace width 1.41, ratio total
length of leg I/carapace length 3.87. Eyes: AME 0.25,
ALE 0.26, PME 0.20, PLE 0.20, AME-AME 0.29,
AME-ALE 0.31, PME-PME 0.41, PME-PLE
0.48, AME-PME 0.25, ALE-PLE 0.13, clypeus
height at AME 0.13, clypeus height at ALE 0.12.

Cheliceral furrow with three promarginal (both
very small) and two retromarginal teeth.

Measurements of palp and legs. Leg formula:
1423. Palp 4.9 [1.6, 0.6, 1.2, 1.5], 1 17.4 [4.6, 1.9, 4.3,

4.8, 1.8], II 12.7 [3.5, 1.6, 3.0, 3.5, 1.1], III 9.7 [2.7,
1.3, 2.1, 2.7, 0.9], IV 14.6 [4.0, 1.6, 3.4, 4.5, 1.1],

Spination. Palp: 0500, 1200, 3100, 0000 (spines
on all limbs of palp very small, less than 1/3 the length
and width of those on the limbs of legs); legs: femur
I 2000, II 2000, III 2020(3020], IV 1010(2010]; pa-
tella I-IV 0000; tibia I 0002, II 0000, III 1010, IV
1010; metatarsus I 0003, II 0003, III 4044, IV 4045.

Copulatory organ. Epigyne with large-area, cross-
oval (occasionally roughly kidney bean-shaped), very
flat depression (Figs 2a, 3a-b, 4c), the margin of which
posteriorly and laterally more distinctly developed

S. Bayer

Fig.4a-e: Cheiracanthium furculatum, photographic images ofcopulatory Organs showing intraspecific Variation, a Epigyne, b Vulva,
both of female (SB 1278), c-d same of female (SB 1280). e Left palp, ventral view of male (SB 1281). All material from Cap Verde Isl.

than anteriorly (Fig. 2a); copulatory openings located
anterio-laterally within that depression (Fig. 2a); ep-
igynal field broader than long, anterior muscle sigilla
elongated and located close to epigynal field (Fig. 2a).
Vulva with short, transverse copulatory duct running
from anterio-laterally to anterio-medial, leading into
a first chamber with Connection to associated glands
(see area with pores medio-posteriorly on that cham-
ber [Fig. 2b] which may be homologous to the sper-
mathecal head in other groups of spiders); a long duct
running posteriorly connects the first with another,
posterior chamber (Figs 2b, 3c, 4b, d). In the female
from Morocco in the right half of the vulva a broken
embolus of a male reaches through the copulatory
duct far into the first chamber (Figs 2b, 3c). An indis-
tinct fertilisation duct arises medially on the second
chamber of the receptaculum (Fig. 2b). Posterior view
of the vulva (Fig. 2d) shows that the copulatory duct
runs ventro-dorsally, with its initial section ventral
to the connective duct bctween the two chambers.
Fig. 2c shows the course of the rather simple internal
duct system. In Fig. 3a the epigyne of this specimcn
is shown before preparation, still with a mating plug,
which is almost round and covers a large area of the
epigynal depression. The pre-epigyne of the subadult

female (Fig. 3d) shows an inverted trapezoid, slightly
sclerotised structure with two small, flat and indis-
tinct depressions in the centre.

Colouration. See Lotz (2007a) for the male, col-
ouration of female see Figs 3f-g.

Variation of male and female copulatory Or-
gans. Males: Shape of the tegular apophysis may dif-
fer slightly (Figs lb, 3e cf. Fig. 4e cf. Lotz 2007a, fig.
39). In the holotype male (Figs lb, 3e) the RTA (in
relation to the cymbium length) is slightly shorter
than in other specimens (Fig. 4e, Lotz 2007a, figs
39-40).

Fcmales: Epigyne may consist of a very flat cross
oval depression (Figs 2a, 3a-b, 4c), eithcr without
longitudinal ridge or with very indistinct one, or the
depression is divided into two more or less round
depressions by a distinct longitudinal ridge (Fig. 4a,
Lotz 2007a, fig. 35). Length and Orientation of copu-
latory ducts show differences (Fig. 3c cf. Fig. 4b cf.
Fig. 4d), or partly distinct differences (Lotz 2007a,
fig. 36, right half ol vulva).

Distribution. Africa including Cape Verde- and
Comoro-Islands (almost all records south of the Sa-
hara, except one in Morocco), introduced into Bel-
gium, Germany and probably Ireland.

Notes on Cheiracanthium

Fig. 5a-d: Cheiracanthium africanum, left palp (male holotype of Cheiracanthium tenuipes from Senegal, Niokolo-Koba-Park). a prola-
teral view. b-d retrolateral view (b-c different planes of focus). C: conductor, E: embolus, LP: lobus-like part of distal tegular apophy-
sis, PA: pointed apex of distal tegular apophysis.

Cheiracanthium africanum Lessert, 1921 (Fig. 5)
Cheiracanthium africanum Lessert 1921: 411, figs 41-44
(descr. 8e illustr. 8 &c 9). [Lectotype 9 and one of the five
paralectotypes, namely the only 8, TANZANIA: Kibo-
noto: Kilimanjaro, S 03°12’, E 37°07’; Bror Yngve Sjöstedt
leg. 1905-1906 (‘Kilimanjaro-Mission’); MHNG CI 20,
examined by Lotz 2007a (remaining four 9 paralectotypes
could not be traced by P. Schwendinger and also not by
L. Lotz)]. For the complete synonymic list see Platnick
(2013).

Cheiracanthium tenuipes Roewer 1961: 64, figs 21a-c (descr.
& illustr. 8). [Holotype 8 left palpus as microslide; type
locality: SENEGAL: Niokolo-Koba-Parc, Siminti, ex
‘IFAN-Dakar’; collection Roewer; SMF 13255, examined],

New synonymy

Diagnosis and description. See Lotz (2007a)
and Lessert (1921).

Additional descriptive remarks on the male copu-
latory organ. Cymbium quite elongated (at least 2.5x

S. Bayer

Fig. 6a-c: Cheiracanthium mildei, female from Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate. a Epigyne. b Vulva, c Schematic course of internal duct
System. AP: area with many pores giving connection to accessory glands, CCD: Connective duct between the two chambers, CD:
copulatory duct, FC: first chamber, RCO: rims of copulatory openings, SC: second chamber.

longer than broad) (Figs 5a-d), retrolatero-proximal
cymbial spur (Figs 5c-d) moderatcly long (ca. half the
length of palpal tibia without RTA) and pointed (Fig.
5c-d); embolus (Fig. 5a, d) quite long and filiform (ca.
2x tegulum width), arising in a 3 o’clock position on
tegulum, running in a semicircular course prolatero-
anteriorly; conductor ca. 3x as long as broad, fleshy and
arising centrally in prolateral half of tegulum; tegular
apophysis rclatively slim, arising centrally on tegulum,
distally bifurcatcd, one extension lobe-like, tbe other
very narrow and pointed (“pointed apex” following
Fotz 2007a) (Figs 5b-d); sperm duct course hardly re-

cognisable; palpal tibia (without RTA) slightly more
than 2 x longer than broad (Fig. 5c), RTA as long as
the diameter of the palpal tibia, slim and distally with
slight indentation (Fig. 5c-d).

Remarks. Cheiracanthium tenuipes was conside-
red a nomen dubium by Lotz (2007a) with the sup-
position that it might be a synonym ot C. africanum.
In the present study it is explicitly recogniscd as ju-
nior synonym of C. africanum because the microslide
with the fixer! left male palp of the holotype clearly
shows the diagnostic characters of C. africanum after
Lotz (2007a). Especially the bipunctated distal tip

Notes on Cheiracanthium

Fig. 7a-i: Cheiracanthium mildei, photographic images of female copulatory Organs showing intraspecific Variation, a Female (SB
from Switzerland, Lago Maggiore, b-c Female from Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate. d-e Female holo- and paratype of C. cretense
from Greece, Crete; unfortunately unknown which is which (see remarks in synonymic list of C. mildei under C. cretense). f Female
from Germany, Bavaria, g Female holotype of C. strasseni strasseni from Israel, Rehovot-Tel-Aviv. h-i Female syntypes of C. strasseni
aharonii from Israel, Tel-Aviv- Rehovot. a-b, d-i Epigyne. c Vulva.

of the RTA (accordingly the tip shows a small, flat
and rather indistinct indentation, Fig. 5c-d) and the
bilobed tegular apophysis with the prolateral pointed
apex (Figs 5a-b, d) are clearly recognisable.

Cheiracanthium africanum is very similar to C.
inclusum (Hentz, 1847). A synonymy of these two
species was proposed by Ledoux (2004) but sub-
sequently rejected by Lotz (2007a). Especially the
males are extremely hard to discriminate from those
of C. inclusum. The distinction of the males of the-
se two species as given in Lotz (2007a) is based on
the fact that the males of C. inclusum do not possess
a bilobed tegular apophysis (with a long, slim and
pointed prolateral part [pointed apex] and a broad,
rounded retrolateral lobe-like part, as can be seen in

C. africanum). However, at least in the illustrations of
male palps of C. inclusum from America in Bonaldo
&c Brescovit (1992, figs 1-2) and Edwards (1958, figs
10-11) the tegular apophysis is bilobed and a pointed
prolateral apex is present.

Distribution. Africa (south of the Sahara), Ma-
dagascar, Reunion.

Cheiracanthium mildei L. Koch, 1864 (Figs 6-7)
Cheiracanthium mildei Koch 1864: 342 (descr. d&9) [Syn-
types, 1 6, 1 $ ITALY: South Tyrol, Meran; DrJ. Milde leg.;
originally in NHMNB, but no longer there (Cordes pers.
comm.), later transferred to NHMW, acquisition date 1882,
no. 1.335 (Hörweg pers. comm.); further syntype material
with unknown number of specimens from Croatia: Dalma-
tia, deposition unknown, possibly NHM (response of curator

S. Bayer

Fig. 8a-c: Cheiracanthium rehobothense, female holotype from Israel, Tel-Aviv-Rehovot. a Epigyne. b Vulva, c Schematic course of
internal duct System.

J. Beccaloni to date missing) but definitely not OUMNH
(Simmons pers. comm.); type material not examined, spe-
cies identity is clear]. For the complete synonymy list see
Platnick (2013).

Cheiracanthium strasseni strasseni Strand 1915: 156 (descr. 2).
[holotype 2 ISRAEL: Rehoboth - Jaffa (between Rehovot
and Tel Aviv); J. Aharoni leg. 26.IV.1913; SMF 4493, exa-
mined]. New synonymy

Cheiracanthium strasseni aharonii Strand 1915: 157 (descr.
2). [2 2 syntypes (one of which with mating plug) ISRAEL:
Jaffa - Rehoboth (between Tel Aviv and Rehovot); J. Aharoni
leg. 1913; SMF 4494, examined]. New synonymy
Cheiracanthium cretense Roewer 1928: 116, pl. 1, fig. 22
(descr. & illustr. 2). [holotype 2 (sub ‘Typus’) and paratype
2 (sub ‘Co-Typus’) GREECE: Crete: Chania: Environ-
ments of Chania, ca. N 35°30’, E 24°00’ (holotype), Akrotiri:
Governeto monastery, ca. N 35°35’, E 24°05’ (paratype);
unfortunately both specimens were put in the same vial,
so it is impossible to teil which is which; C.-F. Roewer leg.
1926, Collection Roewer RII/740/33, R. Bosmans det. C.
milder, SMF 9900740, examined]. Bosmans et al. 2013: 8
(synonymy).

Additional material examined (32). GERMANY: Rhine-
land-Palatinate: Landkreis Mainz-Bingen: Fleidesheim,
on a house wall, N 49°59’34”, E 08°06’47”, 105 m; S. Bayer
leg. 01.V.2012, 1 2, BPC. Bavaria: Lindau, harbour facility,
at handrail, N 47°32’34”, E 09°40’59”, 396 m; S. Bayer leg.
07.VI.2013, 12, BPC. SWITZERLAND: Ticino: Ascona,
Lago Maggiore; Collection Roewer RII/13395; 1 2, SMF
60687.

Diagnosis and description. See Koch (1864),
Simon (1932), Sterghiu (1985), Dondale &c Redner
(1982).

Variation of female copulatory organ. Compar-
ing Figs 7a, b, f with Figs 7d, g-i the colour of the
posterio-median section of the epigyne partly differs
clearly, but this may he due to preservation differenc-
es as several examples examined here are old museuni
specimens. The posteriormost median section of the
epigyne may he narrow (Figs 7a, f) or rather broad
with a relatively even posterior margin (Figs 7d, g, i).

The roughly transversely orientated rims of the copu-
latory openings may be almost in contact with each
other so that a long transverse edge is visible in the
epigyne (Figs 7b, d, f) or they are clearly apart from
each other (Figs 7a, g).The orientation of the lateral
sections of the copulatory ducts may differ clearly
(Figs 6a-c & 7b-e, h cf. Figs 7a, f, g).

Remarks. The two subspecies of Cheiracan-
thium strasseni , namely C. strasseni strasseni Strand,
1915 (nominotypical taxon) and C. strasseni aharonii
Strand, 1915 are both synonymised with C. mildei
because the copulatory Organs of the female type
specimens clearly show specific conformity with
those of C. mildei (Figs 7g-i cf. Figs 6a-b, 7a-f).
Strand (1915) delimited C. strasseni (both subspe-
cies) from C. mildei by a septum that divides the ep-
igynal pit. It is difficult to deduce what Strand meant
with “septum”. In fact the two roughly transversely
orientated rims of the copulatory openings may be
almost connected with each other or there is some
space between them (which Strand possibly regarded
as elongated septum). However, this is a matter of
intraspecific Variation (see above).

Cheiracanthium cretense was synonymised with C.
mildei by Bosmans et al. (2013). Photographie images
of the types of C. cretense are here shown (Figs 7d, e).

Distribution. This species has expanded its dis-
tribution area from Southern to Central Europe
within the last decadcs/century (Muster et al. 2008,
Wunderlich 2012). While formerly only known from
the Mediterranean Palaearctic and Southern Euro-
pean region and not Central Europe (Simon 1932,
Reimoser 1937) it is now known from most countries
in Central Europe (Nentwig et al. 2013). I lelsdingen
(1979) did not list this species for the Netherlands,
but as it was recorded in Belgium (Van Keer et al.
2007), Germany (e.g. Jäger 2000) and Austria (e.g.
Thaler 2005) it is not unlikely that it will be found

Notes on Cheiracanthium

Fig. 9a-d: Cheiracanthium rehobothense, female holotype from Israel, Tel-Aviv-Rehovot, photographic images of copulatory organ
and habitus. a Epigyne. b Vulva, c-d Female, habitus, c dorsal, g ventral view.

in the Netherlands too. Even though in Central Eu-
rope it is mostly found synanthropically, it cannot be
excluded that, in the course of climate change, it may
be found far away from human Settlements too. C.
mildei was introduced into North and South Ameri-
ca and is now established there (Edwards 1958, Bo-
naldo &. Brescovit 1992, Dondale & Redner 1982,
Paquin <5e Duperre 2003).

Cheiracanthium rehobothense Strand, 1915
(Figs 8-9)

Cheiracanthium rehobothense Strand 1915: 158 (descr. 2).
[Holotype 2 ISRAEL: Jaffa - Rehoboth (between Tel Aviv
and Rehovot); J. Aharoni leg. 14. VII. 1913; SMF 4490,
examined].

Additional material examined (1 s.a. d). ISRAEL. Jaffa
- Rehoboth; J. Aharoni leg. 14. VII. 1913, E. Strand det.

with denotation “likely belonging to this species”; 1 s.a. d,
SMF 4491.

Remark. Strand (1915) also examined an adult
male that he also found likely to belong to this species
(SMF 4492). This specimen must have become lost,
as in the SMF Collection only the empty vial exists
with a label saying “type” and a corresponding index
card saying “vial was found empty, checked 1967”.
However, neither this male nor the subadult male li-
sted above can be considered types of C. rehobothense ,
as Strand (1915) expressed some doubts about their
species affiliation in saying “[these two specimens]
likely belong to this species” [ICZN § 72.4.1],

Diagnosis. Females of Cheiracanthium reho-
bothense are distinguished from those of all other
Cheiracanthium. species by the following characters in
combination:

S. Bayer

Small species (body length female: 5.5 mm) with
small epigyne (width ca. 0.4 mm); central epigynal
pit consistently semicircular (Figs 8a, 9a); initial sec-
tion of copulatory duct with steep (latero-) anterior
course (Figs 8b-c); copulatory duct with less than
one winding around anterior section of elongated
kidney bean-shaped receptaculum, and medially
with a semicircular curve until reaching the latter

(Fig. 8b).

Presently, it is impossible to give a diagnosis for
males. Strand (1915) examined a male, which is now
lost (see above) and which he did not unambiguously
assign to this species. Based only on the description
in Strand (1915) it is not possible to clearly charac-
terise and distinguish the male from those of similar
species.

Description

Female (holotype): Body and eye measurements. To-
tal length 5.5, carapace length 2.2, carapace width 1.6,
anterior width of carapace 1.3, opisthosoma length
3.1, opisthosoma width 2.4, sternum length 1.1, Ster-
num width 1.0, ratio carapace length/carapace width
1.375, ratio total length of leg I/carapace length
4.00. Eyes: AME 0.12, ALE 0.12, PME 0.115, PLE
0.115, AME-AME 0.15, AME-ALE 0.14, PME-
PME 0.21, PME-PLE 0.22, AME-PME 0.125,
ALE-PLE 0.06, clypeus height at AME 0.08, cly-
peus height at ALE 0.07.

Cheliceral furrow with six promarginal (both very
small) and six retromarginal teeth.

Measurements of palp and legs. Leg formula:
1423. Palp 2.5 [0.8, 0.35 0.5, 0.85], I 8.8 [2.3, 0.9,
2.1, 2.3, 1.2], II 5.5 [1.5, 0.7, 1.3, 1.35, 0.65], III 4.4
[1.3, 0.6, 0.8, 1.1, 0.65], IV 6.3 [1.8, 0.65, 1.5, 1.7,
0.65].

Spination. Palp: 0000, 0000, 0000, 0000; legs: fe-
mur I 1000, II-IV 0000; patella I-IV 0000; tibia I
0002, II 0000, III 1010, IV 1010; metatarsus I 0003,
II 0003, III 2025[4034], IV 4034.

Copulatory organ. Epigyne generally of the
type of the common and well-known species Chei-
racanthium erraticum (Walckenaer, 1802): a roughly
semi-circular epigynal pit with more or less distinctly
sclerotised margin; vulva: copulatory ducts at least
slightly wound around receptacula and generally
visible through cuticle. The vulva of C. rehobothense
shows a copulatory duct with less than one wind-
ing around receptaculum; initial section of copula-
tory duct almost hyaline and its central part slightly

more than half as broad as central part of receptacu-
lum (Fig. 9b); distance between the anterior-medial
semi-circular sections of each copulatory duct (before
meeting receptacula) slightly less than diameter of
one duct (Figs 8b, 9b); fertilisation ducts indistinct,
arising posterior to posterior-medial on receptacula
(Fig. 8b); two yellowish-brown spots recognisable in
the epigynal pit, clearly posterior to the copulatory
openings (Figs 8a, 9a-b).

Colouration. Carapace light with light-brown
to yellow colour; chelicerae brown; sternum and legs
with the same colour as carapace but even lighter
(Fig. 9d); opisthosoma very light with beige colour,
dorsally with a very long and narrow yellowish me-
dial lanceolate band which may be interrupted sev-
eral times towards posterior end of opisthosoma (Fig.
9c). Even though the specimen is slightly faded in
EtOH the detailed description by Strand (1915) is
still applicable.

Remarks. According to the similarity of the
copulatory organ of Cheiracanthiurn rehobothense
to those of the following species it seems possible
that these species are the closest relatives: C. gratum
Kulczynski, 1897, C. pelasgicum (C. L. Koch, 1837),
C. montanum L. Koch, 1877 and C. pennatum Si-
mon, 1878. According to the structure of the female
copulatory organ C. gratum is most similar. Merkens
& Wunderlich (2000) removed C. gratum from the
synonymy with Cheiracanthium angulitarse Simon,
1878 and first described and illustrated the female
of C. gratum. The latter also has a copulatory duct
with less than one complete winding around the
distal part of the receptaculum. However, the curve
of the distal-most section of the copulatory duct
(before meeting the receptaculum) is orientated in
the opposite direction. Based on Simon (1932) and
Hansen (1991) the female copulatory organ of C.
angulitarse is clearly different from C. gratum and
C. rehobothense as well. According to Simon (1932)
and Sterghiu (1985) the epigyne and the vulva of
C. pelasgicum are quite similar to C. rehobothense ,
however, in C. pelasgicum the epigynal pit is not
as evenly semicircular and its strongly sclerotised
margin is distinctly broader than in C. rehobothense.
The illustrations in Sterghiu (1985) and Dimitrov
(1999) show the initial section of the copulatory
duct of C. pelasgicum also running quite steep, but
the distal section with a different course. Accord-
ing to the general appearance of the copulatory
organ (Reimoser 1937, I leimer &. Nentwig 1991,

Notes on Cheiraccmthium

Roberts 1998) C. montanum is also similar to C.
rehobothense, however there are clear differences in
the course of the distal half of the copulatory duct
(Fig. 8b cf. Reimoser 1937, fig. 51 [ventral view],
Sterghiu 1985, fig. 35c and Roberts 1998, p. 142,
fig. at lower left corner, all showing the vulva of C.
montanum). Pesarini (1997) gave a detailed Illustra-
tion of the male copulatory organ of C. montanum
in retrolateral view. It seems highly likely that he
mixed the figure numbers. Pesarini’s (1997) fig. 3
actually shows C. montanum, his fig. 4 shows C.
elegans Thoreil, 1875. Since its first description, C.
pennatum was only treated and illustrated three
times (Simon 1932, Sterghiu 1985, Urones 1988).
The illustrations of the male in Sterghiu (1985) and
male and female in Urones (1988) are difficult to
interpret and it is possible that they are based on
misidentifications. They are reminiscent of C. pen-
nyi O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1873. The illustration of
the female epigyne of C. pennatum in Simon (1932)
resembles that of C. rehobothense , but the anterior
sections of the copulatory ducts that shine through
the cuticle are not as compact and curved as in the
latter species. Simon (1878, 1932) did not provide
illustrations of the vulva, so it is now difficult to
delimit C. pennatum from C. rehobothense according
to the course of the copulatory duct. The epigyne
of C. erraticum may somewhat resemble that of C.
rehobothense, however, the course of the copulatory
duct is clearly different and shows more than one
winding around the receptaculum.

Even though colouration is a character with far
less taxonomical priority it may be briefly discussed
here too. C. pennatum, C. montanum and C. errati-
cum have colouration patterns different from that
of C. rehobothense. They show a relatively broad and
distinct red to red-brown median band, with its pos-
terior section offen in form of many stacked broad
chevrons. C. pelasgicum resembles more C. rehobo-
thense concerning the colouration as it is rather uni-
formly and relatively pale coloured, without a broad
red to red-brown band dorsally on the opisthosoma,
but instead just a narrow lanceolate band (Sterghiu
1985). C. gratum (Merkens 8c Wunderlich 2000, p.
43) resembles C. rehobothense mostly in having a si-
milar colouration like C. pelasgicum , albeit in general
even lighter.

Distribution. At the moment only known from
the type locality (between Tel-Aviv and Rehovot) in
Israel.

Discussion

Some species mentioned and treated herein are con-
cerned by taxonomical transactions from Wunder-
lich (2012), who resurrected the genus Chiracanthops
Mello-Leitäo, 1942. He justified his decision by pro-
posing several diagnostic characters. In this context
he transferred Cheiracanthium mildei and C. inclusum
(Hentz, 1847) to Chiracanthops. Platnick (2013) did
not follow this decision and still regarded Chira-
canthops as a junior synonym of Cheiracanthium C.
L. Koch, 1839. Wunderliche (2012) concept seems
comprehensible and indeed seems applicable to most
of the African and European Cheiracanthium species.
Following this concept, three of the focal species
treated herein would belong to Chiracanthops, name-
ly C.furculatum, C. africanum and C. mildei, while C.
rehobothense would remain in Cheiracanthium. How-
ever, the genus Cheiracanthium is very diverse and up
to now more than 180 valid species have been de-
scribed. Before Splitting such a genus, all current spe-
cies should be considered, which certainly requires
a large-scale study (i.e. a worldwide phylogenetic
revision). At least a few African species show some
diagnostic characters of Cheiracanthium sensu stricto
and some of Chiracanthops (after Wunderlich 2012)
which makes it impossible to assign them correctly
(e.g. C. leucophaeum Simon, 1897 and C. minshullae
Lotz, 2007). Consequently, the present study follows
Platnick (2013) in regarding Chiracanthops as a jun-
ior synonym of Cheiracanthium.

A comprehensive revision of the Afrotropical
Cheiracanthium species was presented by Lotz (2007a,
2007b). The present study is partly based on the fin-
dings of this publication. Following Lotz (2007a),
C. für culatum is widely distributed and common in
Africa and offen appears synanthropic.This may ex-
plain the introductions to Central Europe with fruit
imports from Africa. It is unlikely that this species,
which is adapted to tropical and subtropical climates,
will establish stable populations in Central Europe;
at least not outside of human buildings. It remains to
be seen if in the future further introduction events of
C.furculatum in Central Europe will be revealed.

Up to now no revisions sensu stricto have been
published for the Cheiracanthium species of Europe,
Mediterranean Africa and the Near East. Several
studies introducing the Cheiracanthium fauna of cer-
tain regions or countries of Europe have been presen-
ted, e.g. Simon (1932), Sterghiu (1985), Heimer 8c
Nentwig (1991), Roberts (1998), Almquist (2006).

5. Bayer

For the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea
from the East and the South and for several coun-
tries ot South- Eastern Europe knowledge of the ge-
nus Cheiracanthium is markedly poor. Currently, 41
Cheiracanthium species have been described from
Europe, Mediterranean Africa and the Near East
with several groups of very similar species. At least
10 of these 41 species (C. abbreviatum Simon, 1878,
C. annulipes O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872, C. auenati
Caporiacco, 1936, C. barbarum (Lucas, 1846), C. cu-
niculum Herman, 1879, C. exilipes (Lucas, 1846), C.
festae Pavesi, 1895, C. fulvotestaceum Simon, 1878, C.
jovium Denis, 1947, C. macedonicum Drensky, 1921)
are currently poorly characterised and thus difficult
to identify. According to their type localities it is
possible that the following species are related to C.
rehobothense (or even conspecific?): In C. auenati and
C. cuniculum the illustrations of the copulatory Or-
gans in Caporiacco (1936) and Herman (1879) are
small and simplified and thus difficult to interpret.
Lucas (1846) and Pavesi (1895) did not even provide
illustrations of copulatory Organs for C. barbarum , C.
exilipes and C. festae, respectively. For the following
species it is unlikely or even impossible that they are
related to C. rehobothense'. C. jovium as illustrated in
Denis (1947) appears very likely to be a synonym of
C. furculatum and C. macedonicum might be a syno-
nym of C. mildei, based on the illustration in Drensky
(1921) and the fact, that the latter is widely distribut-
ed and common in the Balkan region. The illustrati-
on of the epigyne of the Israeli species C. annulipes
in Pickard-Cambridge (1872) looks clearly different
from that of C. rehobothense. By checking the type
material of the species mentioned above and ideally a
lot of material from each species it would be possible
to learn (more) about intraspecific Variation and thus
to give a clear characterisation of these species.

Hence, a revision of Cheiracanthium for Europe,
Mediterranean Africa and the Near East including a
thorough examination and re-description of the type
material of all described species (valid species and Sy-
nonyms) is urgently necessary.

Acknowledgements

I vvisli to thank my mother Gabriele Bayer and my sister Re-
gine Bayer, for immediately informing me after recognising a
female of Cheiracanthium in a box of grapes. Thanks to Leon
N. Lotz (Bloemfontain) for eonfirming the Identification
of the mentioned female as C. furculatum . For the present

study Peter Jäger (Frankfurt am Main) gave helpful advice.
Jason Dunlop and Anja Friederichs (ZMB, Berlin) kindly
loaned the type of C. furculatum. Zoe Simmons (OUMNH,
Cambridge, UK), Christoph Hörweg (NHMW, Vienna)
and Dedev Cordes (NHMNB, Nuremberg) kindly gave im-
portant Information on the types of Cheiracanthium mildei,
D. Cordes additionally gave information on the Collection
of L. Koch in general. Peter Schwendinger (MHNG) kindly
gave information on the syntypes of Cheiracanthium afri-
canum. Thanks to Julia Altmann for providing help in the
SMF collection and for being the “good soul” in the arach-
nology section of the SMF. Many thanks to Jan Bosselaers,
Theo Blick, Sascha Buchholz, Ambros Hänggi and two
anonymous referees, who gave valuable comments on this
manuscript. Jason Dunlop kindly improved the English.

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Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 35-40

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Mesothele spiders in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Jason A. Dunlop, Corinna Steffensen & Hirotsugu Ono

. doi: 10.5431/aramit4705

Abstract. An annotated catalogue of the rare mesothele spiders (Araneae: Mesothelae: Liphistiidae) held in the
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is presented. The museum hosts non-type specimens of nine species representing
all three currently recognised genera, namely: Liphistius desultor Schiödte, 1849, L. malayanus cameroni Haupt, 1983,
L cf. tholeban Schwendinger, 1 990, Heptathela kikuyai Ono, 1 998, H. kimurai (Kishida, 1 920), H. yanbaruensis Haupt,
1983, Ryuthela ishigakiensis Haupt, 1983, R. nishihirai (Haupt, 1979) and R. tanikawai Ono, 1997 (spec. reval.)-The
geographical focus of this Collection is Malaysia and Japan, and most of the material was collected by the Berlin-
based zoologist Joachim Haupt.

Keywords: Araneae, Asia, Joachim Haupt, Liphistiidae, Mesothelae, ZMB

Zusammenfassung: Gliederspinnen im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Ein kommentierter Katalog der im Mu-
seum für Naturkunde Berlin deponierten seltenen Gliederspinnen (Araneae: Mesothelae: Liphistiidae) wird präsen-
tiert. Das Museum beherbergt neun Arten (keine Typen) aus allen drei zurzeit anerkannten Gattungen: Liphistius
desultor Schiödte, 1849, L. malayanus cameroni Haupt, 1983, L. cf. thaleban Schwendinger, 1990, Heptathela kikuyai
Ono, 1998, H. kimurai (Kishida, 1920), H. yanbaruensis Haupt, 1983, Ryuthela ishigakiensis Haupt, 1983, R. nishihirai
(Haupt, 1 979), R. tanikawai Ono, 1 997 (spec. reval.). Der geografische Schwerpunkt der Sammlung liegt in Malaysia
und Japan, wobei der Großteil des Materials von dem Berliner Zoologen Joachim Haupt gesammelt wurde.

Mesothelae is a fairly small suborder of spiders (cur-
rently 87 species in three genera, Platnick 2014)
which are nevertheless of considerable phylogenetic
interest. On first appearance they resemble myga-
lomorph spiders (“tarantulas”, etc.), but in fact they
are widely accepted as the most basal spider lineage
retaining plesiomorphic characters such as a seg-
mented opisthosoma bearing spinnerets near the
middle of the underside. The latter character is the
source of the name ‘meso’- ‘thelae’. All other spiders
have their spinnerets located at or close to the rear
of the opisthosoma and are grouped in the suborder
Opisthothelae. Fossil data indicate that mesothe-
les - or at least similar-looking spiders with a seg-
mented opisthosoma and similar carapace and eye
morphology - were found across Euramerica during
the late Carboniferous. For a recent account of new
fossils, which also drew on the material documented

Jason A. DUNLOP, Corinna STEFFENSEN, Museum für Naturkunde, Leib-
niz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt
University Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany,
e-mail: jason.dunlop@mfn-berlin.de, corinna_steffensen@hotmail.de
Hirotsugu ONO, Department of Zoology, National Museum of Nature
and Science, 4-1-1, Amakubo, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-0005 Japan,
e-mail: ono@kahaku.go.jp

Dedicated to the memory of Joachim Haupt who died in April 2013.
submitted 13.12.2013, accepted 29.4.2014, online 26.5.2014

here for comparative purposes, see Seiden et al. (in
press). Today the group is restricted to eastern Asia
(see below).

Living mesotheles are medium to large-sized spi-
ders which construct a burrow covered by one or two
trap-doors. Up to ten silken ‘trip-wires’ radiate from
the burrow entrance. The spider lurks inside the bur-
row and is alerted to prey touching the silk threads
which effectively act as a sort of ‘proto-web’. A de-
tailed account of mesothele anatomy and biology can
be found in Haupt (2003).

The Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin (MfN)
hosts a small, but significant Collection of these qui-
te rarely collected spiders. As the first of a planned
series of papers documenting the spider collections
of this museum - particularly groups not covered
previously by the Berlin type catalogues by Manfred
Moritz and Sophie-Charlotte Fischer (e.g. Moritz &
Fischer 1990, Moritz 1992) - we present an annota-
ted catalogue of the Mesothelae holdings.

Much of the mesothele material of the MfN was
assembled by the Berlin-based zoologist Joachim
Haupt (Fig. 1), formerly of the Free-University
Berlin and later of the city’s Technical University,
who died in April 2013. As well as studying arth-
ropod groups such as myriapods, mites, hexathe-
lid spiders and whip scorpions - with a particular

J. A. Dunlop, C. Steffensen & H. Ono

focus on micro-morphology and ultrastructure
- Joachim Haupt worked extensively on the bio-
logy and systematics of mesothele spiders (Haupt
1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990,
1993, 2002, 2003, Haupt & Traue 1986, Haupt Sc
Kovoor 1993). He also had strong links to Japan,
where he often collected as can be seen Irom the
specimen labels and associated dates. We dedicate
this present work to his memory. It should be no-
ted that - contrary to published data - the types
of his new species were not deposited in the MfN
(formerly in East Berlin), having been described at
the time when Berlin was still a divided city. Other
spider specimens collected by Joachim Haupt can
be found in the Zoological Museum of the Univer-
sity of Hamburg and in the zoological collections
of the University of Rostock (both Germany), but
the precise wherabouts of some type material re-
mains equivocal. See below for notes on individual
species.

Material and methods

All specimens listed here are stored in the wet collec-
tions (in 70 % alcohol) and have all been given ZMB
(for Zoologisches Museum Berlin) repository num-
bers, which is the traditional acronym for the MfN.
Tie data will be added to the database Systax. Some
changes in nomenclature proved necessary to reflect
the recognition of certain subspecies as distinct spe-
cies in more recent publications. Individual case stu-
dies are discussed below and the specimen labels are
amended accordingly. Düring the course of this work
we also realised that a number of locality names were
either incorrect or had at least been wrongly transcri-
bed from the original labels. Tiese have all been cor-
rected here.

Results

Order Araneae Clerck, 1757
Suborder Mesothelae Pocock, 1892
Family Liphistiidae Thoreil, 1869
Subfamily Liphistiinae Thorell, 1869
Remarks: According to authors such as Schwen-
dinger 8c Ono (2011, and references therein), living
mesotheles can be divided into two subfamilies: the
South-East Asian Liphistiinae and the East Asian
Heptathelinae. Ihe latter subfamily was considered
in some schemes - particularly I Iaupt (1983) - to
be a distinct family, I leptathelidae, but see Raven
(1985) for counterarguments.

Fig. 1: Joachim Haupt (died 2013), photographed in 2008. He
collected much of the mesothele material held in the Museum
für Naturkunde in Berlin (MfN) and worked extensively on these
spiders. Image courtesy of the European Society of Arachnology
(http://www.european-arachnology.org/).

Liphistius Schiödte, 1849

Liphistius desu/tor Schiödte, 1849 (Fig. 2a)

Material: ZMB 10074, 1?; “Pulu Pinang” [Penang
Island], Peninsular MALAYSIA; date uncertain,
“Kauf Roesen 27.3.47” [purchased from Roesen].
ZMB 48315, “Falltür” [trapdoor]; Teluk Bahang,
Penang Island, Peninsular MALAYSIA, leg. J.
Haupt, 2. III. 1981.

Remarks: This species - the first mesothele to he de-
scribed (Schiödte 1849) - is restricted to Peninsu-
lar Malaysia. Tiere is no further data about whom
ZMB 10074 was purchased from. Tie locality is, in
both cases, most likely Penang Island since the literal
translation of the locality of the label is “areca palm
island”(Schwcndinger pers. comm.).Tiis species was
also reported from the nearby mainland (Platnick et
al. 1997).

Liphistius malayanus cameroni 1 Iaupt, 1983
Material: ZMB 48532, 2 juv.; “Berinchan" [Brin-
chang or Berincang, Peninsular MALAYSIA]; leg.
Haupt, 16.IV.1984.

Mesothele catalogue Berlin

Remarks: Also endemic to Peninsular Malaysia; as its
name implies, this subspecies occurs in the Cameron
Highlands. The holo- and paratypes of this species
were explicitly noted as having been deposited in the
Zoologisches Museum Hamburg (see Haupt 1983:
282), and as having been collected in 1981. Both spe-
cimens in Berlin are also from the type locality, but
both are juveniles and since they postdate the original
description, they cannot be part of the type series.

Liphistius cf. thaleban Schwendinger, 1990
Material: ZMB 48313, 1 f, m, juv.; Thaleban Natio-
nal Park (near Satun), Southern THAILAND, leg. V.
Sejna,X.1998; partly disarticulated, probably dried at
one stage.

Remarks: The collector is Vladimir Sejna (Czech
Republic), who has collected numerous arachnids in
the that area of Thailand; see e.g. Kovarik (2004) for
scorpions.

Subfamily Heptathelinae Kishida, 1923
Remarks: Kishida (1923) established this group as a

tribe (Heptatheleae) within the subfamily Liphistii-
nae (cf. Bonnet 1957: 2158).

Genus Heptathela Kishida, 1923
Remarks: In his 1983 paperJoachim Haupt regarded
all Heptathela from Kyushu to Okinawa as part of
a single species - a concept reflected in the original
MfN labels - albeit recognising several subspecies: H.
kimurai kimurai (Kishida, 1920) (type locality: Shi-
royama, Kagoshima-shi), H. kimurai higoensis Haupt,
1983 (Kumamoto, North Kyushu), H. kimurai ama-
miensis Haupt, 1983 (Amami-oshima Island) and H.
kimurai yanbaruensis Haupt, 1983 (Okinawa Island).
Subsequently, Ono (2009) regarded all of these (plus
some new taxa) as distinct species and this view has
been adopted in the World Spider Catalog of Plat-
nick (2014). Applying this current species concept to
the Berlin material we now have voucher material
from three Heptathela species. Note that Tanikawa’s
attempts to explain the species diversity of Japane-
se Heptathela (see Tanikawa et al. 2006; pers. comm.
of A. Tanikawa to H. Ono) have not found favour;

djUyhlfar

H zpixl h t . u

r'ü.i

u5 /• HsLUfh Zbtif. jjf„

fiy . 6 « * *>. »t-j

. 3. ,f

ZM3 24561

400?!/

ZMB Kat.Nr.
48342

Fig. 2: Representative examples, plus their labels, from each
tor Schiödte, 1 849 (juvenile), b. Heptathela kimurai (Kishida,

of the three mesothele genera in the MfN collections. a. Liphistius desul-
1 920). c. Ryuthela nishihirai (Haupt, 1 979). The latter two originated from

the Joachim Haupt collection.

J. A. Dunlop, C. Steffensen & H. Ono

partly because of the large number of heterogeneous
populations with a scattered distribution, but still of-
fen adjacent to one another.

Heptathela kikuyai Ono, 1998
Material: ZMB 48317, 1 exuvia; Oita, Kyushu, JA'
PAN; [leg. J. Haupt], VIII. 2004. ZMB 48318,48342,
48345-47, 5 specimens; Oita, Kyushu, JAPAN; leg. J.
Haupt, 25. III. 2004.

Remarks: Originally labelled as H. kimurai , the geo-
graphical origin of these specimens - from Oita in
Kyushu, the most southerly of Japans four main
Islands - implies that they should probably be H.
kikuyai (sensu Ono 1998) which is common there;
although we concede that several Heptathela species
are known from this island (P. Schwendinger pers.
comm.). The locality details are nonetheless a little
vague as there is both an Oita Prefecture and a more
specific locality of Oita-shi (= Oita City) in Kyushu.
We assume the specimens come from somewhere in
the wider Oita area.

Heptathela kimurai (Kishida, 1920) (Fig. 2b)
Material: ZMB 48319, 1 specimen; Shiroyama, Ka-
goshima, Kyushu, JAPAN; leg. J. Haupt, date uncer-
tain. ZMB 48341, 1 specimen; Kirishima, Kyushu,
JAPAN; leg.J. Haupt, 23. III. 2004.

Remarks: Schwendinger & Ono (2011) noted
that this species is known from several localities in
Southern Kyushu where the species is endemic. ZMB
48319 is topotypic; the type specimen also origina-
ted from Shiroyama. ZMB 48341 could be from the
Kirishima Shrine at Kirishima-shi, from Kirishima-
shi (= Kirishima City) itself or from Mt. Kirishima
situated on the border of Kagoshima and Miyazaki
Prefectures.

Heptathela yanbaruensis Haupt, 1983
Material: ZMB 48316, 1 <3; JAPAN, locality uncer-
tain; leg. J. Haupt, 1.2006. ZMB 48320, 1 specimen;
lii (as’Jii”), Kunigami-son, Okinawa Island, JAPAN;
leg.J. Haupt, 15.IV.1979.

Remarks: These specimens were originally labelled
Heptathela kimurai yanbaruensis, as per Haupts
(1983) original description. Howcver, as noted above,
Ono (2009) recognised H. yanbaruensis as a distinct
species; see also Schwendinger & Ono (2011). The
species is currently recorded as endemic to Okinawa
in the Ryukyu Islands (cf. Platnick 2014) which form
an island chain from Kyushu in the north towards

Taiwan in the south. On the basis of the current data
the distributional ränge of H. yanbaruensis can be re-
stricted to the northern part of Okinawa Island (the
Yanbaru area),thus ZMB 48316 probably comes from
this part of Okinawa too. The holo- and paratypes of
this species were explicitly noted as having been de-
posited in the Zoologisches Museum Hamburg (cf.
Haupt 1983: 284). The present material, collected in
2006, cannot thus be part of the type series.

Ryuthela Haupt, 1983

Remarks: The genus Ryuthela is restricted to the Ry-
ukyu Islands (e.g. Tanikawa 2013, fig. 1).

Ryuthela ishigakiensis Haupt, 1983
Material: ZMB 48337, 1 specimen, Mt. Omoto-
dake, Ishigakijima Island, Yaeyama Islands, Ryukyus,
JAPAN.

Remarks: Originally labelled as R. nishihirai (Haupt,
1979), the locality details (Ishigakijima Island) in-
dicate that it belongs to the endemic subspecies R.
nishihirai ishigakiensis Haupt, 1983. This taxon was
elevated to species level by Ono (1997). The holo-
and paratypes of this species were explicitly noted as
having been deposited in the Zoologisches Museum
Hamburg (cf. Haupt 1983: 287-288). The specimen
in the MfN also comes from the same locality as the
types, however there is no explicit indication that the
Berlin example belongs to the type series.

Ryuthela nishihirai (Haupt, 1979) (Fig. 2c)

Material (all from Okinawa Prefecture, JAPAN):
ZMB 24561,2(5, 1$; Sueyoshi [spelled Suyeyoshi on
label], Shuri in Naha-shi, leg. J. Haupt, 18.IV.1980/
XI. 1981. ZMB 48312, 1 egg case, 1977/78. ZMB
48314, 1 egg case, 1977. ZMB 48326, 1 exuvi-
um; Lake Ryutan, Shuri-mawashi-cho, Naha-shi,
28. III. 1996. ZMB 48327, 1 exuvium; Chibana (area
name of Okinawa-shi), 16. VT. 1982. ZMB 48328, 1
exuvium; Lake Ryutan, Shuri-mawashi-cho, Naha-
shi, 20. III. 1996. ZMB 48329, 1 exuvium; Chiba-
na, 15. IX. 1997. ZMB 48330, 1 exuvium; Funaura
Iriomote, 28.111.1996. ZMB 48331, 1 exuvium;
Nago-dake, northern part of Okinawajima Island,
28. III. 1996. ZMB 48332, 1 exuvium; Unten area,
Nakijin-son, Kunigami-gun Okinawajima Island,
24. VI 1.1997. ZMB 48.333, 1 exuvium; Lake Ryutan,
Shuri-mawashi-cho, Naha-shi, 28.111.1996. ZMB
48334, 1 exuvium; Lake Ryutan, Shuri-mawashi-cho,
Naha-shi, 24. VII. 1997. ZMB 48335, 1 exuvium; Su-

Mesothele catalogue Berlin

eyoshi [spelled Suyeyoshi on label], Shuri in Naha-
shi, 28. III. 1996. ZMB 48336, 2 specimens, Sueyoshi
[as Suyeyoshi (sic)], Shuri in Naha-shi, leg. Haupt,
27. VII. 1993. ZMB 48338, 1 specimen; Sueyoshi [as
Suyeyoshi (sic)], Shuri in Naha-shi, Okinawa,Japan,
leg. Haupt, 27. VII. 1993. ZMB 48339, 2 specimens;
Sueyoshi [as Suyeyoshi (sic)], Shuri in Naha-shi, leg
Haupt, 27. VII. 1993. ZMB 48533, 1 juv.; “Matoba”,
leg. Haupt, 18.IV.1995. ZMB 48534, 1 juv.; [Lake]
Ryutan, Shuri-mawashi-cho, Naha-shi, leg. Haupt,
22.IV.1995. ZMB 48535, 1 $ [abdomen only]; Chi-
bana, leg. Haupt, VIII. 1993.

Remarks: The syntype series is reported to have con-
sisted of three males and females collected in March
1976 byM.Nishihira andj. Haupt in Shuri, Okinawa
(see Haupt 1979: 372-373). Two pairs were deposi-
ted in the Free University Berlin. This is not associ-
ated with the Museum für Naturkunde which was
formally part of the Humboldt-University in Berlin,
whereby the FU Berlin unfortunately has no desig-
nated zoological museum and/or curator. A further
type in the National Science Museum Tokyo under
the repository numbers NSMT-Ar 422-423. Three
additional pairs (improperly designated as paratypes
by Haupt) were cited as being in the author’s personal
collection. Some specimens listed above come from
Lake Ryutan and Sueyoshi - which lies in the Shuri
area - thus it is possible that they are part of the ori-
ginal material (the “paratypes”) examined by Haupt.
However, since their collecting dates (1980-81,
1993) post-date the collecting (1976) and descrip-
tion (1979) of the type material, they cannot be the
“paratypes” from the author’s private collection. At
present the whereabouts of these specimens are unk-
nown. They could not be traced during a recent sur-
vey of Haupts material deposited in Rostock, which
seems to contain only a single (non-type) Liphistius
specimen as a representative of the mesotheles ( JAD
pers. observ. in 2013). Note that ZMB 48330 is as-
sociated with a locality (Iriomotejima Island) which
is notably south-west of Okinawa Island. This exuvia
could come from a specimen belonging to the island
endemic Ryuthele taniwakai (see below).

Ryuthela tanikawai Ono, 1997, spec. reval.

Material: ZMB 48325, 1 exuvia; Funaura, Iriomote-
jima Island, JAPAN, 23.VHI.1991.

Remarks: Originally labelled as R. nishihirai , its lo-
cality data implies that it belongs to the subsequently
recognised and endemic R. tanikawai. Recently Ta-

nikawa (2013a) noted that some species are based on
female genital characters only which may be strongly
variable within populations, and thus suggested that
R. tanikawai is a junior synonym of R. ishigakiensis
(see above). This nomenclatural act was also accep-
ted in the latest Version of the World Spider Catalog
(Platnick 2014). However, we suggest here that this
synonymy is inappropriate. Our critique would be
that Tanikawa (2013a) sank taxa based initially on
morphological data alone, and then in a paper di-
rectly following on from the first (Tanikawa 2013b)
offered additional DNA data albeit based on this
new nomenclature only. In our opinion it would have
been better to conduct a genetic analysis of all the
available populations first, and then discuss the taxo-
nomic implications afterwards. Both morphological
differences in the male palp (Ono 2009) and mole-
cular data (Tanikawa 2013b) may support the hypo-
thesis of past isolation of a Ryuthela population on
Iriomotejima Island. Further study of this species (or
subspecies?) recognition problem by one of us (HO)
is currently in preparation and we refer to this forth-
coming work for details.

Acknowledgments

We thank Anja Friederichs (Berlin) and Andreas Bick and
Katharina Hucksdorf (Rostock) for curatorial assistance,
and Silvian Patzschke for help with photography. Peter
Schwendinger (Geneva) and an anonymous reviewer offered
valuable improvements to the typescript.

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J. A. Dunlop, C. Steffensen & H. Ono

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asjaa.62.41

Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 41-44

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

The spitting spider genus Scytodes (Araneae: Scytodidae) in Iran

Alireza Zamani

doi: 10.5431/aramit4706

Abstract. A survey of spiders of the genus Scytodes Latreille, 1804 in Iran resulted in six species occurring in this
country: Scytodes fusca Walckenaer, 1837, S. strandi Spassky, 1941, S. thoracica (Latreille, 1802), S. univittata Simon,
1882 and - recorded for the first time - S. arwa Rheims, Brescovit & van Harten, 2006 and S. makeda Rheims, Bres-
covit & van Harten, 2006. Illustrations of the newly recorded species and a key to all known Iranian species are
presented.

Keywords: faunistics, Iran, new records

Zusammenfassung. Die Speispinnengattung Scytodes (Araneae: Scytodidae) im Iran. Im Laufe einer Untersu-
chung der Gattung Scytodes Latreille, 1804 im Iran, konnten insgesamt sechs Arten nachgewiesen werden: Scyto-
des fusca Walckenaer, 1837, S. strandi Spassky, 1941, S. thoracica (Latreille, 1802), S. univittata Simon, 1882, S. arwa
Rheims, Brescovit & van Harten, 2006 und S. makeda Rheims, Brescovit & van Harten, 2006, wobei die beiden letzt-
genannten Arten Erstfunde für den Iran sind. Es werden Zeichnungen der erstmals im Iran erfassten Arten und ein
Bestimmungsschlüssel für alle iranischen Scyfodes-Arten präsentiert.

With 229 species, Scytodidae Blackwall, 1864 is a
small family of araneomorph, haplogyne spiders with
a worldwide distribution (Platnick 2014). They are
commonly known as ‘spitting spiders’ since they have
extra silk glands in their chelicerae which they use to
eject a mixture of venom, silk and a gluey substance
for capturing prey (Monterosso 1928). These glands
extend into the prosoma, giving them a hunchback-
shaped cephalothorax. Of the five known genera,
Scytodes Latreille, 1804 is the largest and most widely
distributed (Platnick 2014). Four species have so far
been reported from Iran: Scytodes fusca Walckenaer,
1837, S. strandi Spassky, 1941, S. thoracica (Latreille,
1802) and S. univittata Simon, 1882. The aim of the
present study was to make a survey of this genus in
Iran, which also yielded records of two species new
to the fauna of this country. To help identify Scyto-
des in future studies a key to the Iranian species is
presented.

Methods

Specimens were collected by hand or using entomo-
logical aspirators in different parts of Iran, by turning
stones, investigating leaf litter and crevices in rocks.

Alireza ZAMANI, Department of Animal Biology, School of Biology and
Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms in Iran, College of
Science, University ofTehran.Tehran, Iran, e-mail: a.zamani@ut.ac.ir

submitted 8.4.2014, accepted 30.4.2014, online 26.5.201 4

The vulvae of females were removed and immersed
in cold KOH and later examined and photographed
using a Canon EOS-lDs Mark III, attached to a Ni-
kon SMZ-1000 Stereo microscope. Specimens were
deposited in the Jalal Afshar Zoological Museum of
the University of Tehran ( JAZM, curator Dr. Alireza
Sabouri).

Scytodes species recorded in Iran

Scytodes arwa Rheims, Brescovit & van Harten,

2006 (Fig. 1)

Material. 1 6 (JAZM), IRAN: Hormozgan Prov-
ince: Hormuz Island, 27°02’42”N 56°29’35”E, 11 m
a.s.h, Jan. 2014, leg. Zamani &c Kazemi.

This species - which is known only from males
- can be separated from other species of Scytodes (ex-
cept S. univittata) by the shape of the palpal organ,
the two rows of spines on femur I and the single row
of spines on metatarsus III. It can be distinguished
from S. univittata by the presence of two rows of
spines on femur IV, and the shape of the extension
on the apical section of the bulb, which is hyaline,
large and triangulär, rather than being sclerotized,
small and rounded as in S. univittata (Rheims et al.
2006, figs. 6-11).

Distribution

This species was so far only recorded from Yemen
(Rheims et al. 2006) and is reported from Iran here
for the first time.

A. Zamani

1 mm

Fig. 1: Scytodes arwa. A:
habitus of male; B: male
right palp, prolateral
view; C: male right palp,
retrolateral view

Habitat in Iran

This species was found in a sandy, rocky habitat near
the sea, in co-habitation with S. makeda.

Scytodes makeda Rheims, Brescovit & van Harten,
2006 (Fig. 2)

Material. 2 9 (JAZM), IRAN: Hormozgan Prov-
ince: Hormuz Island, 27°02’42”N 56°29’35”E, lim
a.s.l, Jan. 2014, leg. Zamani 8c Kazemi.

Iltis species - which is known only front females
— can be separated from other species of Scytodes by
its bean-shaped spermathecae, U-shaped ducts and
sclerotized plates on the sides of the spermathecae
(Rheims et al. 2006, figs. 12-14).

Distribution

This species was so far only recorded from Yemen
and Oman (Rheims et al. 2006) and is reported here
from Iran for the first time.

Habitat in Iran

Iltis species was found in a sandy, rocky habitat near
the sea, in co-habitation with S. arwa.

Scytodes strandi Spassky, 1941
Material. 1 9 (JAZM), IRAN: Tehran Province:
Tehran, Tochal mountains, 35"49’40”N, 51°24T5”E,
1912 m a.s.l., May 2013, Zamani leg.

This species is similar to S. kinzelbachi Wunder-
lich, 1995, but can he separated by the shorter, more
sclerotized apophysis of the psembolus in males, and
a different conformation of the spermathecae in fe-
males (Özkütük et al. 2013, fig. 3).

Distribution

Iran, Central Asia (Platnick 2014). Iltis species has
heen previously reported front Mazandaran (Ghahari
8c Marusik 2009) and Tehran (Özkütük et al. 2013)
Provinces in Iran and mir single female specimen was
also collected from Tehran.

Scytodes in Iran

Fig. 2: Scytodes makeda. A: ha-
bitus of female; B: vulva, dorsal
view; C: left spermathecae and
copulatory duct

Habitat in Iran

One adult specimen was found along with some ju-
veniles in a rocky, mountainous habitat near a small
waterfall.

Scytodes univittata Simon, 1882
Material

1 $ 1 $ (JAZM), IRAN: Tehran Province: Tehran,
May 1994, leg. Savoji. 1 9 (JAZM), IRAN: Fars
Province: Kangan, 27°58’ N, 51°59’ E, 552 m a.s.l.,
Dec 2013, leg. Mirzaee.

Males of this species are diagnosable by the
presence of two rows of spines on femur I, a sing-
le prolateral row of spines on metatarsus III and by
their embolus, which has a sclerotized basal projec-
tion. Females are diagnosable from other species by
their v-shaped foveae and curved, deep positioning
ridges (Brescovit & Rheims 2000, figs. 11-20).
Distribution

Canary Is. to Myanmar, synanthropic in the Neotro-
pics (Platnick 2014). This species has been previously
reported from Fars and Mazandaran Provinces in
Iran (Özkütük et al. 2013). This is the first record
from Tehran Province.

Habitat in Iran

The new specimens were found in rocky plain ha-
bitats.

Scytodes thoracica (Latreille, 1802)

Distribution

Holarctic, Pacific Is. (Platnick 2014). This species has
been reported in Iran from the Caspian Sea (Roewer
1955), and the Provinces Zanjan (Ghavami 2006),
Golestan (Ghavami 2006, Kashefi et al. 2013) and
Khorasan (Mirshamsi 2005) previously. No addi-
tional material was found during the present study.

Scytodes fusca W alcke n aer, 1837
Distribution

Pantropical (Platnick 2014). This species has been
previously reported in Iran (albeit questionably; see
below) from Kerman Province, based on a single fe-
male specimen (Roewer 1955). No additional mate-
rial was found during the present study.

Key to Scytodes species of Iran

1 . Male 9

Female 6

2. Femur I with spines 3

Femur I spineless 5

3. Femur IV with spines (see Rheims et al. 2006, fig.

11) S. arwa

Femur IV spineless 4

4. Metatarsus III with spines (see Özkütük et al.

2013, fig. 4) S. univittata

Metatarsus III spineless S. fusca

A. Zamani

5. Terminal part of bulbous as long as basal part,
apophysis fine (see Ozkütük et al. 2013, fig. 6) . .

S. thoracica

Apophysis thicker than Stylus and sub-equal in
size (see Ozkütük et al. 2013, fig. 3) ... .S. strandi

6. Spermathecae strongly curved (see Brescovit 8c

Rheims 2000, figs. 5-8) S.fusca

Spermathecae mildly curved, or not curved .... 7

7. Spermathecae bean-shaped S. makeda

Spermathecae not bean-shaped 8

8. Scutula straight (see Ozkütük et al. 2013, fig. 3)

S. strandi

Scutula not straight 9

9. Scutula triangulär (see Ozkütük et al. 2013, fig.

4) S. univittata

Scutula semi-rounded (see Ozkütük et al. 2013,
fig. 6) S. thoracica

Discussion

Based on the present study, Scytodes is represented
in Iran by six species, which in comparison to some
adjacent and nearby countries - e.g. Turkey with th-
ree species (Bayram et al. 2014), Russia and its ad-
jacent countries with four species (Mikhailov 2013)
and Central Europe with two species (Sestäkovä et
al. 2014) - represents a rather rieh fauna of spitting
spiders. The present study offers the first records of S.
arwa and S. makeda outside the Arabian Peninsula,
but considering the position of Hormuz Island re-
lative to Yemen and Oman, their occurrence in this
part of Iran is not surprising. In fact another species
which might be expected on Hormuz Island is S. bilqis
Rheims, Brescovit 8c van Harten, 2006; also originally
described from Yemen. It should be mentioned that
Mozaffarian 8c Marusik (2001) suggested that be-
cause S.fusca is widely distributed in Central America
and occurs throughout the tropics, the single fema-
le Iranian specimen was misidentified; thus the true
presence of this species in Iran remains doubtful.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Dr. Antonio I). Brescovit for reviewing an
carlier Version of this manuscript, Dr. Cristina A. Rheims
for her comments on identifications, Dr. Reza Naderloo for
organi/ing the collecting trip to 1 Iormuz Island, Mr. Abbas
Kazemi, Mr. Parham Bcyhaghi and Mrs. Zohre Mirzaee for
field assistance, Mr. Alircza Savoji for access to bis collected
specimens of S. univittata , Mr. Ali Mohajeran for bis help
with photographing the specimens and the National Muse-

um of Natural History and Genetic Resources for providing
me with research Supplements.

References

Bayram A, Kunt KB 8c Damjman T 2014 The checklist of
the spiders of Turkey. Last updated 10 January 2014. -
Internet: http://www.spidersofturkey.com (4.5.2014)
Brescovit AD 8c Rheims CA 2000 On the synanthropic
species of the genus Scytodes Latreille (Araneae, Scyto-
didae) of Brazil, with synonymies and records of these
species in other Neotropical countries. - Bulletin of the
British arachnological Society 11: 320-330
Ghahari H 8c Marusik YM 2009 New data on spider fauna
of Iran (Araneae). - Turkish Journal of Arachnology 2
^ (3): 1-8

Ghavami S 2006 Renew checklist of spiders (Aranei) of
Iran. - Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 9: 1 839-
1851 - doi: 10.3923/pjbs.2006. 1839. 1851
Kashefi R, Ghassemzadeh F, Kami HG 8c Mirshamsi O
2013 New data on spider fauna from Golestan Province,
Iran (Arachnida: Araneae). - Progress in Biological Sci-
ences 3: 7-22

Mikhailov KG 2013 The spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) of
Russia and adjacent countries: a non-annotated checklist.
KMK Scientific Press, Moscow. Arthropoda Selecta.
Supplement 3. 262 pp.

Mirshamsi O 2005 Faunistic study of spiders in Khorasan
Province, Iran (Arachnida: Araneae). - Iranian Journal
of Animal Biosystematics 1: 59-66
Monterosso B 1928 Osservazioni sulla biologia sessuale
degli «Scitodoidi». — Rendiconti della Reale Accademia
Nazionale dei Lincei 7: 155-160
Mozaffarian F 8c Marusik YM 2001 A checklist of Iranian
spiders (Aranei). - Arthropoda Selecta 10: 67-74
Özkütük RS, Marusik YM, Danisman T, Kunt KB, Yagmur
EA 8c Elverici M 2013 Genus Scytodes Latreille, 1804
in Turkey (Araneae, Scytodidae).- Hacettepe Journal of
Biology and Chemistry 41: 9-20
Platnick NI 2014 The world spider catalog, Version 14.5.

- Internet: http://research.amnh.org/iz/spiders/catalog
(4.5.2014)

Rheims CA, Brescovit AD 8c Harten A van 2006 The genus
Scytodes Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Scytodidae) in Yemen,
with description of three new species. - Fauna of Arabia
21: 159-166

Rocwer CF 1955 Die Araneen der Österreichischen Iran
Expedition 1949/50.- Sitzungsberichte der Mathema-
tisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse der Kaiserlichen
Akademie der Wissenschaften (1) 164: 751-782
Sestäkovä A, Cerneckä L, Neumann J 8c Reiser N 2014
First record of the exotic spitting spider Scytodes fusca
(Araneae, Scytodidae) in Central Europe from Germany
and Slovakia. — Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 1-6

— doi: 10.5431/aramit4701

Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 45-48

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

The long-lasting story of the wrong naming of Silometopus ambiguus as S. curtus
(Araneae: Linyphiidae)

Theo Blick

doi: 1 0.543 1/aramit4707

Abstract. Silometopus ambiguus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1 905) is a species occurring in Coastal habitats from north-
eastern to Western Europe. S. curtus (Simon, 1881), occurring in Southern France and north-eastern Spain, was for a
long time mixed up with S. ambiguus, even though corrections have been published very early and several times.
This contribution summarizes publications on this topic, discusses doubtful records of both species and proposes
corrections for the World Spider Catalog; and thus tries to avoid repetitions of the mistake in the future.

Keywords: Coastal habitats, spider, taxonomy

Zusammenfassung. Die lange Geschichte der Fehlbenennung von Silometopus ambiguus als S. curtus (Ara-
neae: Linyphiidae). Silometopus ambiguus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1 905) kommt in Küstenlebensräumen von Nord-
ost- bis nach Westeuropa vor. S. curtus (Simon, 1 881 ), die aus Südfrankreich und Nordost-Spanien bekannt ist, wurde
über viele Jahrzehnte mit S. ambiguus verwechselt, obwohl Berichtigungen frühzeitig und mehrfach publiziert wur-
den. Dieser Beitrag stellt die Publikationen zum Thema zusammen, diskutiert fragliche Nachweise beider Arten und
schlägt Korrekturen für den World Spider Catalog vor. Weitere Wiederholungen dieses Fehlers sollen so in Zukunft
verhindert werden.

Silometopus curtus (Simon, 1881) was described by
Simon (1881: p. 253, sub Erigone curta) based on
males from France and Spain. Shortly after he trans-
ferred the species to Cnephalocotes and figured it (the
male palpus) for the first time (Simon 1884: 704).
Later, i.e. posthumously, he transferred the species to
the new genus Silometopus Simon, 1926 and desig-
nated it as its type species (Simon 1926: 353). The
female epigyne was first figured by Denis (1950: 66,
Figs 5-9, sub S. nitidithorax (Simon, 1914); corrected
by Denis 1963: 396) and the vulva by Locket (1964:
267, Fig. 3D). Denis (1963: 395, Figs 2-3) and Lo-
cket (1964: 266, Figs 2A-B) re-figured the tibial
apophysis of the male palpus.

Silometopus curtus is known only from South-
ern France (Bouches-du-Rhönes: les Martigues;
Camargue: several sites) and north-eastern Spain
(Catalonia: Arbücies) (Simon 1881: 253, 1884: 704,
1926: 487; Denis 1950: 66, sub S. nitidithorax).

Furthermore Simon mentioned a slightly differ-
ent and larger male from Egypt (Alexandria) (Simon

■ Theo BLICK, Callistus - Gemeinschaft für Zoologische & Ökologische
Untersuchungen, Heidloh 8, 95503 Hummeltal, Germany, e-mail: blick@
callistus.de

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. Terrestrische Zoologie,
Projekt Hessische Naturwaldreservate, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, e-mail: theo.blick@senckenberg.de

submitted 16.4.2014, accepted, 6.5.2014, online 26.5.2014

1884: 704, 1926: 487) which he considered merely to
be a variety of S. curtus. This seems to be very doubt-
ful and should be re-examined.

Silometopus ambiguus (O. Pickard-Cambridge,
1905) was described by Pickard-Cambridge (1905:
67, pl. A, Figs 16-19) from Scotland (Isle of Bute)
after a male he had formerly published as S. curtus
(Pickard-Cambridge 1894: 112, Fig. 4, sub Cnepha-
locotes). Locket &. Millidge (1953: 251) figured both,
S. ambiguus and S. curtus , but Locket et al. (1974: 88)
corrected this noting that all figures from 1953 be-
long to S. ambiguus. Denis (1963) and Locket (1964)
clarified that S. curtus is a Mediterranean species and
S. ambiguus occurs in Coastal habitats in northern and
Western Europe. Since this time in Great Britain and
Ireland the correct name, S. ambiguus , has been used
exclusively. Braendegärd (1958) and Wiehle (1960,
1961) erroneously used the name S. curtus for records
in Iceland and Germany. Also Casemir (1970: Ger-
many) and Palmgren (1976: Finland) used the name
S. curtus , even though they should have known, or
even cited, the papers by Denis (1963) and Locket
(1964). Both names can be found even in the spi-
der literature from the last two decades, e.g., S. cur-
tus: Koponen & Fritzen (2013), Blick et al. (2004),
Helsdingen (1999, 2013); S. ambiguus: Agnarsson
(1996), Scharff & Gudik-Sorensen (2011), Platen et

T. Blick

Fig. 1 : Map of the records of Silometopus ambiguus in northern Germany (Staudt 2014)
Abb. 1 : Karte der Nachweise von Silometopus ambiguus in Norddeutschland (Staudt 2014)
★ = record after 1999/Nachweis nach 1999

al. (1995),Tanasevitch 8c Koponen (2007), Bosmans
(2009).

Silometopus ambiguus is the valid name of the spe-
cies occurring on or near the coast from north-east-
ern European Russia (the north-easternmost records
are from Vorkuta and south of the Yamal Peninsula,
both north of the Urals, Tanasevitch 8c Koponen
2007: 320, Tanasevitch 2008: 129), Finland, Norway,
Iceland, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Germany,
Netherlands, Belgium and France (the southernmost
record is from the Atlantic coast of Vendee; Fe Peru
2007: 184).

The records from Germany (Fig. 1) show:

That the species is known from the North Sea coast
as well as from the Baltic Sea coast. The records from
the Baltic Sea lead to the assumption, that records of
S. ambiguus can be expected also in Poland, Sweden
and the three Baltic States, Fithuania, Fatvia and Es-
tonia; it is already known from Finland (sub S. curtus:
Palmgren 1976, Koponen 8c Fritzen 2013).

There are single records not directly on the coast. This
fact is supported by single records from Great Britain
up to 280 m a.s.l. (BAS 2014) and single inland re-
cords from Iceland (Agnarsson 1996: 89-90).

There are scarce recent spider data from the German
coast.

Distinguishing the species. The most important
contribution towards distinguishing the two species
was made 50 years ago by Focket (1964). He com-
paratively figured the tibial apophysis of both species
and provided the vulvae for the first time (Figs 2-3).
Furthermore he noted (Focket 1964: 266): “Simon
himself appears to have confused the two species, a
tube from his collection labelled “Silom. curtus. Gal-
lia” contained two males of the Mediterranean form
and one of the other.” For other figures see Platnick
(2014).

Fig. 2: A. Silometopus curtus male tibial apophysis (dorsally). B.
ditto (from a little inside). C. S. ambiguus male tibial apophysis
(ditto) (after Locket 1964: p. 66, Figs 2A-C).

Abb. 2: A. Silometopus curtus männliche Tibialapophyse (dor
sal). B. dito (ein wenig von innen). C. S. ambiguus männliche Ti
bialapophyse (dito) (after Locket 1964: p. 66, Figs 2A-C).

Thestoryof Silometopus ambiguus and S. curtus

Fig. 3/Abb. 3: A. Silometo-
pus ambiguus vulva. B. S.
curtus vulva (after Locket
1964: p. 67, Figs. 3C-D).

Records to be checked. There are published records
of S. ambiguus from Spain (Majadas ScUrones 2002,
Moreno 2005, Cardoso 8c Moreno 2010: two from
Central Spain, Avila and Salamanca, one near the
Mediterranean coast from Tarragona, Catalonia).
These records should be checked thoroughly as well
as the records of S. ambiguus from Albania (Deltshev
et al. 2011) and of S. curtus from Hungary (Samu 8c
Szinetär 1999: listed as “possibly uncertain record“,
origin: Loksa 1991), Malta (Kritscher 1996) and
Egypt (see above) (compare the maps in Nentwig et
al. 2014, created on the basis of Helsdingen 2013).

Catalogue. The following citations in the World
Spider Catalog (Platnick 2014) are still attached to
S. curtus, but in fact belong to S. ambiguus'.

• Cnephalocotes curtus O. Pickard-Cambridge 1894:
112, f. 4. (misidentified per Pickard-Cambridge
1905: 67)

• S. curtus Locket 8cMillidge 1953: 251, f. 153A, H
(mf). (misidentified per Locket et al. 1974: 88)

• S. curtus Braendegärd 1958: 47, f. 38-39 (mf).
(misidentified, see above)

• S. curtus Wiehle 1960: 278, f. 506-509 (mf). (misi-
dentified per Locket et al. 1974: 88)

• S. curtus Wiehle 1961: 180, f. 17 (f). (misidentified
per Locket et al. 1974: 88)

• S. curtus Casemir 1970: 210, f. 4.1-2, pl. I, f. 3 (mf).
(misidentified, see above)

• S. curtus Palmgren 1976: 98, f. 20.15-16 (mf).
(misidentified, see above)

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dietrich Mossakowski (Bremen), Aloysius
Staudt (Schmelz), Jörg Pageler (Oldenburg) and Martin
Lemke (Lübeck) (see http://forum.spinnen-forum.de//

index.php?topic=16344.0), who re-drew my attention to this
case, to Jason Dunlop (Berlin) for checking the language
and to Andrei Tanasevitch and Ambros Hänggi for helpful
comments.

References

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T. Blick

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(15.4.14)

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France. - Revue Arachnolologique 16: 1-468

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O. Pickard-Cambridge collection at Oxford. - Annals
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Locket GH, Millidge AF 8cMerrett P 1974 British spiders.
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Loksa I 1991 Uber einige Arthropoden-Gruppen aus
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der Region zwischen Mt. Kakas (Pilisszentkereszt) und
der Ispan Aue (Mikula-haraszt). - Opuscula Zoologica
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maquis mediterraneens de Cytisus oro mediterranem Rivas
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Moreno E 2005 Iberian spiders catalogue. - Internet:
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araneae.unibe.ch (15.4.14)

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mit Ausnahme der Linyphiinae-ähnlichen). - Fauna
Fennica 29: 1-126

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1 0.543 1/aramitS 101

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Internet: http://research.amnh.org/iz/spiders/catalog

(15.4.14)

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the Hungarian spider fauna. - Bulletin of the British
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Scharff N 8c Gudik-Sorensen O 2011 Checklist of Dan-
ish spiders (Araneae). Version 26-10-2011. - Internet:
http://www.zmuc.dk/entoweb/arachnology/dkchecklist.
htm (15.4.14)

Simon E 1881 Description despeces nouvelles du genre
Erigone. - Bulletin de la Societe zoologique de France
6: 233-257

Simon E 1884 Les arachnides de France. Tome V, troisieme
partie. Roret, Paris, pp. 181-885, pl. XXVI- XXVII

Simon E 1926 Les arachnides de France.Tome VI. Synopsis
generale et catalogue des especes fran^aises de l’ordre des
Araneae; 2e partie. Roret, Paris, pp. 309-532

Staudt A 2014 Nachweiskarten der Spinnentiere Deutsch-
lands (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones).
- Internet: http://spiderling.de/arages/Verbreitungskar-
ten/species.php?name=silamb (15.4.2014)

Tanasevitch AV 2008 New records of linyphiid spider
from Russia, with taxonomic and nomenclatural
notes (Aranei): Linyphiidae). - Arthropoda Selecta
16: 115-135

Tanasevitch AV 8c Koponen S 2007 Spiders (Aranei) of
the Southern tundra in the Russian Plain. — Arthropoda
Selecta 15: 295-345

Wiehle 1960 Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea (Araneae).
XI. Micryphantidae - Zwergspinnen. - Die Tierwelt
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fauna II.- Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum
in Berlin 37: 171-188

NA7 UHAL history"
MUSEUM LIBRARY

<-$ IIJ L 20K

Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: 49-50

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Erstnachweis der Springspinne Icius hamatus (Salticidae, Araneae)
für Deutschland

Michael Schäfer & Antje Deepen-Wieczorek

doi: 10.5431/aramit4708

Abstract. First record of the jumping spider Icius hamatus (Salticidae, Araneae) in Germany. A male of the
jumping spider Icius hamatus (C. L. Koch, 1 846) was found in a garden in Aachen (Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia).
Establishment of this species in Germany cannot yet be proven.

Keywords: distribution, Europe, new faunistic record, spider

Zusammenfassung. Ein Männchen der Springspinne Icius hamatus (C. L. Koch, 1 846) wurde in einem Garten in Aa-
chen (Nordrhein-Westfalen) nachgewiesen. Eine Etablierung in Deutschland kann noch nicht belegt werden.

Die Gattung Icius ist in Europa mit sieben Arten
vertreten, deren Verbreitungsschwerpunkt in Südeu-
ropa liegt (Platnick 2014). Icius hamatus (C. L. Koch,
1846) ist im Mittelmeerraum weit verbreitet. Han-
sen (1982) äußerte nach Sichtung aller Literatur-
daten die Vermutung, die Axt komme in der Ebene
oder im Hügelland bevorzugt in der Strauchschicht
vor, sei „sehr wahrscheinlich aber nicht an sie gebun-
den“. Metzner (1999) gibt als Fundorte neben „Ge-
büschen, Waldrand, Laubwäldern“ auch „Flussufer
und Quellrand“ an.

Bisher wurde die Art in Europa für Portugal,
Spanien, Frankreich mit Korsika, Italien mit Sar-
dinien und Sizilien, Slowenien, Kroatien, Serbien,
Rumänien, Albanien, Griechenland, die Türkei und
Polen nachgewiesen (Nentwig et al. 2014). Bei letz-
terem handelt es sich um eine Einschleppung zusam-
men mit Granatäpfeln, die vermutlich aus Spanien
stammten (Tomasiewicz &c Wesolowska 2006).

Fundort, Material und Methoden

Am 15.03. 2013 wurde in einem privaten Garten in
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Aachen, Brand, Niederforst-
bach, 248 m. ü. N.N. (WGS84: 50.7395°N, 6.1583°E,
TK25: 5202) ein adultes Männchen von Icius hama-
tus (Abb. 1-2) gefunden (leg. A. Deepen-Wieczorek,
det. M. Schäfer). Es hielt sich dort unter einem Stein
auf. Der relativ feuchte Fundort und seine Umge-
bung sind im Jahresverlauf mit einer dichten Kraut-

Michael SCHÄFER, Hochlandstr. 64, 1 2589 Berlin, Deutschland,

E-Mail: michael.schaefer@kleinesganzgross.de
Antje DEEPEN-WIECZOREK, Münsterstr. 207, 52076 Aachen, Deutsch-
land, E-Mail: antje.wieczorek@online.de

eingereicht: 27.2.2014, angenommen 7.5.2014, online 26.5.2014

Abb. 1 : Icius hamatus Männchen, Dorsalansicht
Fig. 1 : Icius hamatus male, habitus dorsal

Schicht aus Gräsern und Stauden bewachsen. Ab
Mitte März bildet sich hier je nach Witterung rasch
dichter Bewuchs aus.

Das Tier wurde als Beleg in 70% Ethanol kon-
serviert und in der Sammlung Schäfer unter der
Nummer M130032 archiviert.

Bestimmung

Die Bestimmung des Männchens erfolgte mit Hil-
fe von Andreeva et al. (1984: 350, f. 1-5), Alicata &
Cantarella (1994: 116, f. 1,7,13, 18-36), Metzner
(1999: 96, f. 61 a-1) und Pröszynski (1976: 233, f.
403-406).

M. Schäfer &A. Deepen-Wieczorek

Abb. 2: Icius hamatus Männchen, linker Pedipalpus
Fig. 2: Icius hamatus male, left palp

Diskussion

Als wahrscheinlich wärmeliebende Gattung mit me-
diterranem Verbreitungsschwerpunkt ist Icius eigent-
lich nicht als Mitglied der deutschen Fauna zu er-
warten. Lediglich für einen Vertreter dieser Gattung
( Icius subinermis Simon, 1937) existieren bereits zwei
Nachweise für Deutschland. Zum einen aus einem
Gewächshaus des Botanischen Gartens in Köln ( Jä-
ger 1995) und zum anderen ein unpublizierter Fund
aus dem Saarland, der auf den Verbreitungskarten
der Arachnologische Gesellschaft (Staudt 2014)
verzeichnet ist. Im Gegensatz zum Fund aus Köln
deutet bei letzterem der Fundort (die Hauswand ei-
nes Wohnhauses, Staudt pers. Mitt.), allerdings nicht
explizit auf eine eventuelle Einschleppung hin.

Der nächstgelegene Fundort von Icius hamatus
hegt ca. 700 km südwestlich von Aachen, im franzö-
sischen Departement Charente (Le Peru 2007).

Da es sich bei dem hier publizierten Nachweis
um einen Einzelfund handelt, dessen Fundort sich
zudem in unmittelbarer Nähe zu bebautem Gebiet
befindet, ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer einma-
ligen Einschleppung durch z.B. Warentransporte
oder Kraftfahrzeuge relativ hoch. Eine zeitnahe Ein-
schleppung mit Stauden oder Baumaterialien durch

den Besitzer des Gartens kann jedoch ausgeschlossen
werden, da die letzen Jahre keine Neubepflanzungen
oder Baumaßnahmen stattgefunden haben.

Es bleibt daher offen, ob es sich hier um eine ein-
malige Einschleppung handelt oder die Art bereits
am Standort Fuß gefasst hat. Eine intensive Nachsu-
che im Gebiet und angrenzenden Bereichen ist da-
her für eine Klärung, ob und in welchem Umfang die
Art eventuell etabliert ist, unbedingt notwendig.

Danksagung

Vielen Dank an Theo Blick für die unkomplizierte Be-
treuung des Manuskripts sowie an Tobias Bauer für die
wertvollen Tipps und vor allem für seine Motivation, ohne
die es diese Publikation sicherlich nie gegeben hätte.

Literatur

Alicata, P & Cantarella T 1994 The Euromediterranean
species of Icius (Araneae, Salticidae): a critical revision
and description of two new species. — Animalia, Catania
20: 11-131

Andreeva, EM, Heciak S &c Pröszynski J 1984. Remarks
on Icius and Pseudicius (Araneae, Salticidae) mainly
from central Asia. - Annnales zoologici, Warszawa 37:
349-375

Deepen-Wieczorek A & Schönhofer AL 2013 Bestätigung
von Homalenotus quadridentatus (Opiliones: Sclerosoma-
tidae) für die Fauna Deutschlands. - Arachnologische
Mitteilungen 45: 36-39 - doi: 10.5431/aramit4508
Hansen H 1982 Beitrag zur Biologie von Icius hamatus (C.L.
Koch) (Aracnida: Araneae: Salticidae). - Lavori Societa
Veneziana di Scienze Naturali 7: 55-74
Jäger P 1995 Erstnachweise von Macaroeris nidicolens und
Icius subinermis für Deutschland in Köln (Araneae: Sal-
ticidae).-Arachnologische Mitteilungen 9: 28-39 - doi:
10.5431/aramit0905

Le Peru B 2007 Catalogue et repartition des araignees de
France. - Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468
Metzner, H 1999 Die Springspinnen (Araneae, Salticidae)
Griechenlands. - Andrias 14: 1-279
Nentwig W, Blick T, Gloor I), Hänggi A & Kropf C 2014
Araneae, Spinnen Europas. - Internet: http://www.
araneae. unibe.ch (01.02.2014)

Platnick NI 2014 The world Spider catalog, Version 14.5.
- Internet: http://research.amnh.org/iz/spiders/catalog
(01.02.2014)

Pröszynski J 1976 Studium systematyczno-zoogeograflczne
nad rodzina Salticidae (Aranei) Regionöw Palearktyc-
znego i Nearktycznego. - Wyzsza Szkola Pedagogiczna
Siedlcach 6: 1-260

Staudt A 2014 Nachweiskarten der Spinnentiere Deutsch-
lands - Internet: http://www.spiderling.de/arages/Ver-
breitungskarten/species.php?name=icisub (01.02.2014)
Tomasiewicz B &. Wesolowska W 2006 Icius hamatus
(Araneae, Salticidae) in Poland? - Polskie Pismo entö-
mologicznc 75: 339-342

Arachnologische Mitteilungen 47: i-iii

Karlsruhe, Mai 2014

Nachruf

Joachim Haupt ist tot - ein sehr persönlicher Nachruf
Joachim Haupt is dead - a very personal obituary

Schreibt man etwas über einen bedeutenden For-
scher, so stehen im allgemeinen seine wissenschaftli-
chen Verdienste im Mittelpunkt; lange Publikations-
listen, besondere Beiträge, die zu einem bedeutenden
Fortschritt im entsprechenden Wissensgebiet geführt
haben, werden „abgearbeitet“. Wer den wissenschaft-
lichen Verdienst von Joachim Haupt (* 13. Januar
1942, f 30. April 2013) bemessen will, der schaue nur
in so bedeutende Bücher wie „den Foelix“ (Biologie
der Spinnen), die „Neurobiology of arachnids“ oder
die „Ecophysiology of spiders“ (Foelix 1992, Barth
1985, Nentwig 1987) - in allen ist Joachim Haupt
zitiert, im Uberblickswerk über unsere - und seine! -
Lieblingstiere ebenso wie in den Spezialwerken. So-
wohl an seinen Arbeiten zur Funktionsmorphologie
der Trichobothrien als auch an den umfassenden und
grundlegenden Untersuchungen mesotheler Spin-
nen, dieser ganz besonders urtümlichen Spinnen,
kommt man nicht vorbei (Haupt 2003).

Und dennoch greift man zu kurz, Joachim auf
diese großen wissenschaftlichen Verdienste zu be-
schränken. Ich hatte die Freude, sowohl in meinem
Studium in seiner Vorlesung „Biologie der Spinnen-
tiere“ sehr viel lernen zu können als auch am glei-
chen Institut, dem früheren Institut für Biologie der
TU Berlin, mit ihm zusammen arbeiten zu dürfen.
Seine Vorlesung war altmodisch, dies aber im bes-
ten Sinne. Wenn einer ohne Powerpoint (gab es
damals noch gar nicht!), Folien und anderem tech-
nischen Schnick-Schnack, nur mit Hilfe von fünf
verschiedenfarbigen Kreidestücken, in zwei Vorle-
sungsstunden die grundlegenden Unterschiede der
Hauptgruppen der Articulata darzustellen versteht,
und am Ende dieser eineinhalb Zeitstunden dann
lehrbuchmäßige Zeichnungen an der Tafel zu sehen
sind, ist - oder leider war - das Kunst. Sein Stil lag
nicht jedem, es war schon ein kleiner Kreis von Inte-
ressierten. Sein profundes Wissen und seine Leiden-
schaft für den Stoff machten es mir jedenfalls leicht,
besonders die Spinnen leidenschaftlich zu vertiefen.
Und als er auch noch die europäischen Arachnologen
1988 zum 11. Colloquium nach Berlin holte (Haupt
1988), rückte er für mich damals unbedarften Studi
in die Riege der ganz Besonderen auf.

Während der Exkursion am Mittelmeer am Hafen von Banyuls-
sur-mer.

Düring the Mediterranean excursion at the harbour of Banyuls-
sur-mer.

Die gemeinsame Arbeit am Institut für Biologie
(IfBiol, Technische Universität Berlin) viel später
dann war von herzlicher Kollegialität geprägt. Mit
seinem oft hintergründigen Humor lag Joachim sehr
auf meiner Wellenlänge. Die auch nach vielen Jah-
ren immer noch auf Nadeln aufgespießten Spinnen
aus dem Freilandökologischen Praktikum eines pro-
fessoralen Kollegen gab er gerne mit der süffisanten
Bemerkung zurück, die Bestimmung so behandelter
Tiere sei „wie schon gesagt“ nicht möglich. Auch
Neues zu wagen war durchaus seine Sache, in For-
schung wie in Lehre. Die Stammesgeschichte seiner

Diversa

Joachim im Kreis von Studenten und Meerestieren - Lernen am Objekt!
Joachim surrounded by students and sea life - learning from the specimens!

mesothelen Spinnen lag ihm am Herzen. Morpho-
logisch war hier alles klar. Eine neue Professur für
Genetik am Institut für Biologie machte es möglich,
dies auch auf genetischer Ebene nachzuzeichnen -
damals etwas Neues, Besonderes. Auch wenn ihm ei-
nige Ergebnisse nicht in sein Muster passten und zu
heftigen Diskussionen führten - er fand es spannend
und stellte sein kostbares Material zum Mazerieren
zur Verfügung! Die Ausbildung der ausschließlich
Lehramt Studierenden am IfBiol war sehr festgelegt,
man studierte eben das Angebot ab, der Blick über
den Tellerrand hinaus wurde nicht eben gefördert. In
einem der vielen Gespräche in seinem Büro bemerk-
te ich fast nebenbei, dass man mal ein meeresbiolo-
gisches Praktikum anbieten sollte, als Übersicht über
die Stämme des Tierreiches wäre das sinnvoll, und
auch in der Lehramtsausbildung nicht schlecht, da
die Schülerinnen und Schüler ja eher am Meer Ur-
laub machen würden als im Grunewald von Berlin.
Joachim nutzte seine Kontakte nach Banyuls-sur-
mer an die dortige meeresbiologische Station, einige
Wochen später war alles unter Dach und Fach (auch

hier gibt es Bedeutendes: „Insekten und Spinnentiere
am Mittelmeer“, verfasst zusammen mit seiner Frau
Hiroko, Haupt & Haupt 1993). Es wurden zwei
wunderbare Exkursionen! Sie zeigten einmal mehr,
dass Begeisterung der Lehrenden auf die Lernenden
ansteckend wirkt. Zum anderen zeigten sie Joachim
von einer Seite, die man an ihm weder als Student
noch als Kollege so vermutet hätte - Lebensfreude
und Lebenslust! Sardane tanzen, Wein trinken, am
Strand liegen und „nebenbei“ Meeresbiologie be-
treiben, die gefangenen Fische erst biologisch unter-
suchen und dann fachgerecht grillen und bei einem
stimmungsvollen Fest begießen und verspeisen, vor-
her noch eben eine spannende Landexkursion ma-
chen, auf der I lafenmole gemeinsam einen letzten
Pastis des Tages einnehmen ...

Leider haben wir uns in den letzten Jahren aus
den Augen verloren. Ich wusste nicht, wie schlecht es
um ihn gesundheitlich bestellt war. Einigen mag dies
wohl aufgefallen sein, zum Beispiel auf Tagungen.
Klagen war seine Sache jedenfalls nicht - jedenfalls
nicht in großer Runde. Ich war bestürzt, als ich von

Diversa

seinem Tod erfuhr. Es gibt doch noch so viel zu tun!
Die Morphologie mag eine altmodische Wissen-
schaft sein, mit der man keinen Studi mehr zu einer
Bachelor- oder Masterarbeit verfuhren kann. Es har-
ren aber noch so viele Dinge auf eine Untersuchung.
Mikroskop und Elektronenmikroskop waren seine
Handwerkszeuge, seine Erfahrung wäre viel wert.

Wenigstens einen Banyuls-Wein hätte ich gerne
noch mit ihm getrunken und an „alte Zeiten“ ge-
dacht. Noch nicht mal Joachim hat damals Bezugs-
quellen in Deutschland gekannt. Heute kann man
diesen wunderbaren Dessertwein, den er uns auf den
Frankreichexkursionen so nahe brachte, im Inter-
net bestellen. Das werde ich wohl tun und ihn im
Gedenken an diesen besonderen Kollegen trinken.
Es werden Bilder vorüber ziehen von lauen Mittel-
meer-Abenden und guten Gesprächen am IfBiol,
an Abendessen im Familienkreis, Gespräche über
seine Liebe zu Asien und Japan speziell. In Erinne-
rung bleiben der wissenschaftlich Beharrliche und
der Begeisterer - der Biologe, Spinnenforscher und
Mensch Joachim Haupt.

Literatur

Barth FG. (ed.) 1985 Neurobiology of arachnids. Springer,
Berlin. 385 S.

Foelix RF 1992 Biologie der Spinnen. 2. Auflage. Thieme,
Stuttgart. 331 S.

Haupt J (ed.) 1988 XI. Europäisches Arachnologisches
Colloquium. - TUB-Dokumentation Kongresse und
Tagungen 38: 1-354 - Internet: http://www.european-
arachnology.org/collo/ collol 1 .shtml

Haupt J 2003 The Mesothelae - a monograph of an excep-
tional group of spiders (Araneae: Mesothelae) (mor-
phology, behaviour, ecology, taxonomy, distribution and
phylogeny). - Zoologica 154: 1-102

Haupt J &. Haupt H 1993 Insekten und Spinnentiere am
Mittelmeer. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart. 357 S.

Nentwig W (ed.) 1987 Ecophysiology of spiders. Springer,
Berlin. 448 S.

Ulrich SIMON, Berolzheimerstraße 31 A, 90768
Fürth, E-Mail: uusimon@t-online.de

Arachnologische

Anna Sestäkovä, Ludmila Cerneckä, Jonathan Neumann & Nils Reiser: First record of the exo-
tic spitting spider Scytodes fusca (Araneae, Scytodidae) in Central Europe from Germany and

Slovakia

Neunachweis der exotischen Speispinne Scytodes fusca (Araneae, Scytodidae) in Mitteleuropa
aus Deutschland und der Slowakei 1-6

Barbara Thaler-Knoflach, Ambros Hänggi, Karl-Hinrich Kielborn & Bodo von Broen: Revi-
siting the taxonomy of the rare and tiny comb-footed spider Carniella brignolii (Araneae,

Theridiidae)

Ergänzungen zur Taxonomie der seltenen Zwergkugelspinne Carniella brignolii (Araneae,
Theridiidae) 7-13

Christoph Hörweg: Die Gemeine Baldachinspinne, Linyphia triangu/aris (Araneae: Linyphiidae),

Europäische Spinne des Jahres 2014

The common hammock-weaver, Linyphia triangularis (Araneae: Linyphiidae), European
spider of the year 2014 14-18

Steffen Bayer: Miscellaneous notes on European and African Cheiracanthium species (Araneae:

Miturgidae)

Verschiedene Anmerkungen über afrikanische und europäische Cheiracanthium- Arten (Ara-

neae: Miturgidae) 19-34

Jason A. Dunlop, Corinna Steffensen & Hirotsugu Ono: Mesothele spiders in the Museum für

Naturkunde Berlin

Gliederspinnen im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin 35-40

Alireza Zamani: The spitting spider genus Scytodes (Araneae: Scytodidae) in Iran

Die Speispinnengattung Scytodes (Araneae: Scytodidae) im Iran 41-44

Theo Blick: The long-lasting story of the wrong naming of Si/ometopus ambiguus as S. curtus (Ara-
neae: Linyphiidae)

Die lange Geschichte der Fehlbenennung von Si/ometopus ambiguus als S. curtus (Araneae:

Linyphiidae) 45-48

Michael Schäfer & Antje Deepen- Wieczorek: Erstnachweis der Springspinne Icius hamatus (Sal-

ticidae, Araneae) für Deutschland

First record of the jumping spider Icius hamatus (Salticidae, Araneae) in Germany 49-50

Diversa: Nachruf i-iii

ISSN 1018 • 4171

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