Notes on Indian wolf spiders: IV. Transfer of species previously included in the genera Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 and Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904 (Araneae: Lycosidae)

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  Notes on Indian wolf spiders: IV. Transfer of species previously included in the genera Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 and Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904 (Araneae: Lycosidae) The enigmatic Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 sensu lato currently consists of five nominal species distributed in Africa and Asia (World Spider Catalog 2026). It was established for C. kittenbergeri Caporiacco, 1947, with a superficial generic diagnosis relying only on somatic features such as length of eye rows, leg spination and relative leg lengths (Caporiacco 1947). Roewer (1955), following Caporiacco’s (1947) generic diagnosis, drastically increased the number of Crocodilosa species by transferring several species from other lycosid genera, but most of these subsequently added species were later reassigned to their appropriate genera (World Spider Catalog 2026), highlighting the need for a re-examination of the type species and remaining congeners to clarify the validity of Crocodilosa. At present, the genus ha...

On the specimens of Actinopus Perty, 1833 deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, with redescriptions, first description of missing sexes, and notes on other taxa (Araneae: Actinopodidae)

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On the specimens of Actinopus Perty, 1833 deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, with redescriptions, first description of missing sexes, and notes on other taxa (Araneae: Actinopodidae)

Abstract

The specimens of Actinopus Perty, 1833 deposited at the Natural History Museum, London are catalogued. Redescriptions of Actinopus crassipes (Keyserling, 1891), A. harti Pocock, 1895, A. liodon (Ausserer, 1875), A. robustus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1892), and A. wallacei F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896 are presented. A lectotype and paralectotypes are designated for A. robustus. Miglio et al. (2020) erroneously considered the type specimens of A. harti and A. liodon to be lost, and further wrongly stated A. liodon would have been deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien when this was never the case. The type series of A. harti comprises of a holotype female and numerous paratypes. The male of A. harti is described for the first time. Actinopus liodon is represented in the collection by the holotype male and a non-type male, and this species, along with A. pindapoy Miglio, Pérez-Miles & Bonaldo, 2020, is synonymised with A. longipalpis C. L. Koch, 1842 syns nov. The first record of A. longipalpis from Paraguay is reported. The holotype of Actinopus luteipes (Keyserling, 1891) is illustrated, confirmed as an immature female, and is tentatively maintained as a junior synonym of A. crassipes. The male of A. trinotatus Mello-Leitão, 1938 is described for the first time. Conversely, the female of A. tetymapyta Sherwood & Pett, 2022 is described for the first time (on the basis of specimens from the Dr Bohls collection which also contains two adult males). Actinopus vilhena Miglio, Pérez-Miles & Bonaldo, 2020 is recorded from the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil for the first time. An additional female of A. princeps Chamberlin, 1917 from the previously-reported locality Parque Nacional do Itatiaia is illustrated. A new species is proposed on the basis of Bolivian material misidentified as A. wallacei by Miglio et al. (2020), and described in full accordance with Article 13.1.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1999).