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...

Revision of the genus Leiurus in Jordan, with a description of a new species and a new record (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

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Revision of the genus Leiurus in Jordan, with a description of a new species and a new record (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

Abstract

Several new populations of Leiurus were studied from various habitats in Jordan, including specimens previously identified as Leiurus quinquestriatus (Ehrenberg, 1828) and Leiurus hebraeus (Birula, 1908). A new species, Leiurus aylaensis sp. n. is described from Aqaba in southern Jordan, and Leiurus abdullahbayrami Yağmur, Koç & Kunt, 2009 is recorded in Jordan for the first time, extending its geographical range from Türkiye, Syria and Lebanon to the south. A detailed illustration of Leiurus hebraeus (Birula, 1908) and Leiurus jordanensis Lourenço, Modrý & Amr, 2002 are also provided. Biological and geographical notes are also provided.

Abu Afifeh, B., Al–Saraireh, . M. and Amr, Z. (2025) “Revision of the genus <em>Leiurus</em> in Jordan, with a description of a new species and a new record (Scorpiones: Buthidae)”, Ecologica Montenegrina, 86, pp. 81–118. doi: 10.37828/em.2025.86.4. 

https://www.biotaxa.org/em/article/view/87016