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...

On Some Rare Mygalomorph from Ecuador, with the Description of 16 New Species in Five Families (Mygalomorphae: Actinopodidae, Barychelidae, Halonoproctidae, Idiopidae, and Theraphosidae)

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On Some Rare Mygalomorph from Ecuador, with the Description of 16 New Species in Five Families (Mygalomorphae: Actinopodidae, Barychelidae, Halonoproctidae, Idiopidae, and Theraphosidae)

Abstract

This study on Mygalomorphs from Ecuador revealed an amazing unknown diversity, including the first record of the families Actinopodidae and Halonoproctidae. Here, 16 new species and one new genus are described in five families: in Actinopodidae, Actinopus saraguro n. sp. (♀); in Barychelidae, Paracenobiopelma vesca n. sp. (♀), Strophaeus pacificanus n. sp. (♀), S. real n. sp. (♀), S. elongata n. sp. (♂♀), S. josefita n. sp. (♂♀), S. peronii n. sp. (♂♀), S. kaiae n. sp. (♀), S. subterraneus n. sp. (♂), S. spiculum n. sp. (♂), and S. kawsay n. sp. (♀); in Halonoproctidae, Ummidia pupulae n. sp. (♂); in Idiopidae, Idiops clepsydra n. sp. (♀); and in Theraphosidae, Pululahua gen. n., Pululahua kunukyaku gen. n., n. sp. (♂♀), and Pululahua winku gen. n., n. sp. (♂♀); and Thalerommata yasuni n. sp. (♂). Furthermore, images of the type specimens of Actinopus nattereri (Doleschall, 1871) and Actinopus piceus (Ausserer, 1871) are presented. Finally, the synonymy of Idiops fulvipes under Idiops argus is rejected.

Dupérré, N., & Tapia, E. (2025). On Some Rare Mygalomorph from Ecuador, with the Description of 16 New Species in Five Families (Mygalomorphae: Actinopodidae, Barychelidae, Halonoproctidae, Idiopidae, and Theraphosidae). Taxonomy, 5(3), 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy5030035