A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction

  Photo Credit: © Antonino Rametta . All photographs are used with permission. No part of these images may be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without the prior written permission of the photographer. A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction One of the most rewarding aspects of maintaining Arácnido Taxonomy is hearing from naturalists and photographers around the world who take the time to share their discoveries. Every so often, an email arrives that immediately captures your attention. Not because it claims to rewrite what we know about biodiversity, but because it documents something that very few people have the opportunity to witness. Recently, I was contacted by a naturalist in Sicily who shared a series of exceptionally high-quality photographs of a female ladybird spider ( Eresus ) during what appeared to be an interaction with a spider wasp. Along with the images came a simple question: "Could this be scientifically import...

Contributions to the knowledge of trapdoor spiders: descriptions of Iberesia melici sp. nov., the female of Nemesia dukagjinica Geci & Sherwood, 2025, and new distribution records of some other European nemesiids (Araneae: Nemesiidae)

 


Contributions to the knowledge of trapdoor spiders: descriptions of Iberesia melici sp. nov., the female of Nemesia dukagjinica Geci & Sherwood, 2025, and new distribution records of some other European nemesiids (Araneae: Nemesiidae)

Abstract
A new species, Iberesia melici sp. nov., is described from Santa Fé de Montseny, Catalonia, Spain, based on a holotype male; the female of Nemesia dukagjinica Geci & Sherwood, 2025, from Kosovo, is described for the first time. Finally, faunistic data are presented for some specimens of four assorted nemesiids: Brachythele denieri (Simon, 1916), B. media Kulczyński, 1897, Iberesia machadoi Decae & Cardoso, 2006, and Nemesia has tensis Decae, Pantini & Isaia, 2015.

Geci, Donard & Sherwood, Danniella. (2025). Contributions to the knowledge of trapdoor spiders: descriptions of Iberesia melici sp. nov., the female of Nemesia dukagjinica Geci & Sherwood, 2025, and new distribution records of some other European nemesiids (Araneae: Nemesiidae). Arachnology. 20. 485-490.