Revision of the Elusive Harvestmen Genus Discocyrtulus Roewer, 1927 (Opiliones: Laniatores: Gonyleptidae): Investigating the Presumed Northeastern Brazilian Discocyrtus-Like Relatives

Posted by
  Revision of the Elusive Harvestmen Genus Discocyrtulus Roewer, 1927 (Opiliones: Laniatores: Gonyleptidae): Investigating the Presumed Northeastern Brazilian Discocyrtus-Like Relatives ABSTRACT A maximum parsimony analysis based on morphological characters (23 taxa; 98 characters; 1951 scorings) was conducted to test the monophyly of Discocyrtulus Roewer, 1927, and to assess its phylogenetic relationships within Gonyleptidae. The results recover the species currently assigned to Discocyrtulus as phylogenetically distant from Pachylinae sensu stricto and nested instead within Discocyrtus sensu stricto +, forming a clade together with Discocyrtus moraesianus Mello-Leitão, 1923. Accordingly, Discocyrtulus is removed from Pachylinae Sørensen, 1884, and left without subfamilial assignment. As a result, Discocyrtulus now comprises Discocyrtulus crenulatus (Roewer, 1913) comb. nov. , Discocyrtulus marginalis Roewer, 1929, and Discocyrtulus moraesianus (Mello-Leitão, 1923) comb. ...

Description of the first continental European species of the huntsman spider Cebrennus (Araneae, Sparassidae), confirming the presence of the genus in the region

Posted by

 


Description of the first continental European species of the huntsman spider Cebrennus (Araneae, Sparassidae), confirming the presence of the genus in the region

Abstract

Because of its wide variety of climates and habitats, the Iberian Peninsula harbors a rich and diverse arachnological fauna, including numerous endemisms. This is especially true for habitats like arid and semiarid areas. Many of them are threatened despite containing interesting –and sometimes uncharacterised– fauna, such as the huntsman spiders in the genus Cebrennus.
Previously known to occur from North Africa to the Middle East, new sightings of these spiders in Europe have drawn attention. Here, we use morphological and molecular data to describe a new species of Cebrennus from specimens collected in eastern Spain. Additionally, we use genetic data to place the new species, C. herculis sp. n., in a phylogenetic context and speculate on the biogeographic processes that lead to its presence in Europe.
Genetic distances among individuals of C. herculis sp. n. were low for the three molecular markers analysed (COI, 18S and 28S). Our phylogenetic tree recovered the monophyly of the Iberian Cebrennus, and placed them as sister to the only African representative with genetic data available, C. rungsi. Furthermore, divergence time analysis revealed a Palaeogene-Neogene split between the Iberian lineage and C. rungsi, compatible with an allopatric speciation following one of the ancient connections between Europe and Africa landmasses.
These findings show that habitats such as arid and semiarid areas still hide new and interesting diversity, underscoring the importance of preserving them.

Domènech, M., Calatayud-Mascarell, A., Pérez-Gómez, Á., Giacomelli, M., Iglesias Baquero, A., Mojica, M., Guerrero, J. J., Arnedo, M. A., & Lozano-Fernandez, J. (2025). Description of the first continental European species of the huntsman spider Cebrennus (Araneae, Sparassidae), confirming the presence of the genus in the region. Zoologischer Anzeiger. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2025.08.005