What’s a Spider? Designation of the Neotype for the First Animal Species Ever Described, Araneus angulatus Clerck 1757 (Araneae: Araneidae)

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  What’s a Spider? Designation of the Neotype for the First Animal Species Ever Described, Araneus angulatus Clerck 1757 (Araneae: Araneidae) Abstract We designate a neotype for the Eurasian spider species Araneus angulatus Clerck, 1757, thereby fixing the objective application of the species name, the genus name Araneus Clerck 1757, the family name Araneidae Clerck 1757, and the superfamily name Araneoidea Clerck 1757. By etymology and arachnological tradition, it also unofficially fixes the application of the ordinal name Araneae Clerck 1757 and thus answers the uncontroversial question, “What’s a spider?” A. angulatus also happens to be historically the first animal species ever described because Clerck (1757) has priority over Linnaeus (1758). Neotype designation is justified for three reasons: the syntypes of A. angulatus are lost; “ A. angulatus ” contains significant COI sequence divergence, potentially representing intraspecific variation, misidentifications, or as many...

Phylogenomic placement and revision of Iranattus Prószyński, 1992 jumping spiders (Salticidae, Plexippini, Plexippina)

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Phylogenomic placement and revision of Iranattus Prószyński, 1992 jumping spiders (Salticidae, Plexippini, Plexippina)

Abstract

The jumping spider genus Iranattus Prószyński, 1992, distributed from Africa to southwestern Asia, has been placed within the Harmochirina because of their male palp structures and elongated third legs. Here, we present phylogenomic evidence that it belongs instead to the subtribe Plexippina, further supported by the presence of two coupling pockets in the female epigyne. In this study, we redescribe I. principalis (Wesołowska, 2000) and I. rectangularis Prószyński, 1992. Additionally, the female of I. rectangularis, the type species of the genus, is described for the first time, and we report its range extension east to India.

Marathe K, Tripathi R, Sudhikumar AV, Maddison WP (2024) Phylogenomic placement and revision of Iranattus Prószyński, 1992 jumping spiders (Salticidae, Plexippini, Plexippina). Zoosystematics and Evolution 100(2): 531-542. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.122034