Testing the Limits of Morphology: A Comprehensive Morphometric Study of the Sister Lineages Lasiocyano Galleti-Lima, Hamilton, Borges and Guadanucci, 2023 and Lasiodora C. L. Koch, 1850 (Theraphosidae, Mygalomorphae)

Posted by
  Testing the Limits of Morphology: A Comprehensive Morphometric Study of the Sister Lineages Lasiocyano Galleti-Lima, Hamilton, Borges and Guadanucci, 2023 and Lasiodora C. L. Koch, 1850 (Theraphosidae, Mygalomorphae) ABSTRACT Morphological conservatism and homoplasy pose significant challenges for the systematics of mygalomorph spiders, limiting the number of reliable morphological characters available for species identification, particularly in Theraphosidae. Closely related taxa frequently display high phenotypic similarity, which limits the resolution of morphology-based approaches. In this study, we conducted the most extensive morphometric analysis to date within Theraphosidae, with the objective of explicitly testing how much morphological information is retained within the  Lasiocyano sazimai  and  Lasiodora  lineage. We applied a morphometric framework combining linear morphometry and geometric morphometry, including multivariate statistics, discrimina...

Two new species of the open-holed trapdoor spider genus Proshermacha (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Anamidae) from southern Western Australia

Posted by

 


Two new species of the open-holed trapdoor spider genus Proshermacha (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Anamidae) from southern Western Australia

Abstract
The open-holed trapdoor spider genus Proshermacha Simon, 1908 is endemic to southern Australia, and currently contains 11 named species. We describe two new species from south-western Australia: Proshermacha telaporta sp. nov. from the Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions, and Proshermacha robertblosfeldsi sp. nov. from the Warren bioregion.

Harvey MS, Wilson JD & Rix MG (2023). Two new species of the open-holed trapdoor spider genus Proshermacha (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Anamidae) from southern Western Australia. Australian Journal of Taxonomy 43: 1–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.54102/ajt.2k58g