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)

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  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...

List of spider species in an urban forest fragment in the Brazilian Amazon with 16 new local records and 3 new records for Brazil

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List of spider species in an urban forest fragment in the Brazilian Amazon with 16 new local records and 3 new records for Brazil

Summary

The order Araneae comprises more than 52,000 described species of spiders and, despite the high diversity, there is still much to study about the taxonomy and biogeography of the group, especially in tropical regions. In this work, we provide a list of spider species/morphospecies from the Research Campus of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil, with new records at different scales. Collections occurred sporadically between 2011–2018, using different collection methods. A total of 492 individuals from 172 morphospecies were sampled, distributed in 103 genera and 25 families. It was possible to determine 84 species (48.8%), with 16 new records for Belém, including seven for Pará and three for Brazil. The relatively high species richness can be explained by several factors, such as sampling at different times of the year, the use of various collection methods, and the fact that the study area is connected to an extensive forest matrix to the northeast, possibly allowing the dispersal of individuals between areas. Finally, the new records, the high species richness, and the number of undetermined species highlight the challenges of obtaining an acceptable level of faunal knowledge of spiders in the Amazon.

Pantoja, P., Xavier, C., Bello Serrão, L., Favacho, C., Saturnino, R., & Bragio Bonaldo, A. (2025). List of spider species in an urban forest fragment in the Brazilian Amazon with 16 new local records and 3 new records for Brazil. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi - Ciências Naturais , 20 (1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.46357/bcnaturais.v20i1.1012