First record of Thaumasia Perty, 1833 nursery web spider (Araneae: Pisauridae) preying upon Polistes canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in the Neotropical region

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  First record of Thaumasia Perty, 1833 nursery web spider (Araneae: Pisauridae) preying upon Polistes canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in the Neotropical region Abstract Thaumasia Perty, 1833 are opportunistic spiders that inhabit the Neotropical region. This study reports a spider of the genus Thaumasia preying upon Polistes canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) in semiarid region of Brazil. A spider of the genus Thaumasia was observed moving rapidly from the fountain's water surface to capture an individual of P. canadensis . After successfully capturing the wasp, Thaumasia sp. was observed partially perched on the wall of the fountain, with the prey still on the water surface and trapped by its chelicerae. The pedipalps and chelicerae of Thaumasia sp. manipulated the head of P. canadensis , which stopped moving shortly after being captured, probably because of the action of the spider's venom. The study records a wasp in the diet of Thaumasia based on the ca...

On the Identity of Some Taxa in the Tarantula Tribe Hapalopini, with Two Synonymies, and Description of Four New Genera and Three New Species (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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On the Identity of Some Taxa in the Tarantula Tribe Hapalopini, with Two Synonymies, and Description of Four New Genera and Three New Species (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Abstract

Four new genera are described to resolve the recent placement of non-congeneric species in Hapalopus Ausserer, 1875 and Thrixopelma Schmidt, 1994. Further taxonomic notes on Hapalopini are provided. Crypticarachne gen. nov. is described for the newly combined monotypic species Crypticarachne nadineae (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2022) comb. nov. Devicarina gen. nov. is described to house the newly combined species Devicarina akroa (Moeller, Galleti-Lima & Guadanucci, 2024) comb nov. (type species) and Devicarina guidonae (Moeller, Galleti-Lima & Guadanucci, 2024) comb. nov. which were clearly misplaced in Hapalopus. Ewok gen. nov. is described for six newly combined and two newly described species: Ewok aymara (Chamberlin, 1916) comb. nov., Ewok aycaramba sp. nov., Ewok christineae (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2024) comb. nov. (type species), Ewok cyaneolum (Schmidt, Friebolin & Friebolin, 2005) comb. nov., Ewok eliseanneae (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2024) comb. nov., Ewok kainae sp. nov., Ewok kimraykawsaki (Signorotto et al., 2025) comb. nov. and Ewok pruriens (Schmidt, 1998) comb. nov. Warmiru gen. nov. is described to accommodate the newly combined species Warmiru lagunas (Schmidt & Rudloff, 2010) comb. nov. and Warmiru longicolli (Schmidt, 2003) comb. nov. (type species). Thrixopelma peruvianum (Schmidt, 2007) syn. nov. is proposed as a junior synonym of Warmiru longicolli comb. nov. based on spermathecal morphology. Finally, Anqasha lima sp. nov. is described based on material from Peru in accordance with Article 13 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The recent misidentification of palpal bulb keels by Kaderka & QuispeColca (2025) is corrected, and Thrixopelma zaratensis Kaderka & Quispe-Colca, 2025 is newly transferred to Ewok gen. nov. with Ewok zaratensis syn. nov. placed as a junior synonym of Ewok christineae comb. nov.

Sherwood, D., Gabriel, R., Peñaherrera-R., P., León-E., R. J., Rollard, C., Leguin, E.-A., Brescovit, A. D. & Lucas, S. M. (2025f). On the identity of some taxa in the tarantula tribe Hapalopini, with two synonymies, and description of four new genera and three new species (Araneae: Theraphosidae). ZooNova 46: 1-23. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17612014