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  Website Update: Email Subscriptions Discontinued I want to share an important update regarding email subscriptions and newsletters on Arácnido Taxonomy. Effective immediately, I have discontinued using Mailchimp for email newsletter subscriptions. Over the past several days, the subscription system and associated website functions have been subjected to persistent automated bot activity and attempted exploitation. In addition to generating unwanted subscription activity, these requests have contributed to periods of reduced website performance. To help protect the website, its content, and legitimate visitors, the Mailchimp subscription and registration functions have been removed. Following Arácnido Taxonomy via RSS For the foreseeable future, RSS will be the primary way to subscribe to and follow new posts and updates from Arácnido Taxonomy. RSS provides a simple, direct way to receive new content without submitting an email address or creating an account. Once the Arácnido Ta...

Reidentification of historical specimens assigned to Cupiennius oculifer (Karsch, 1879) (Araneae: Trechaleidae)

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Reidentification of historical specimens assigned to Cupiennius oculifer (Karsch, 1879) (Araneae: Trechaleidae)

Karsch (1879) described Phoneutria oculifera based on a single female from Mexico, without precise locality data. The description of this species appeared as a footnote, as the broader paper was on African spiders. Karsch (1879: 350) compares P. oculifera to “Phoneutria Saléi” [= Cupiennius salei (Keyserling, 1877)] and the short text description is accompanied by a single sketch of the epigyne ventrally (Fig. 1F; Karsch, 1879: fig. 2). The species remained valid for some time, but F. O. Pickard-Cambridge (1897: 63) expressed doubt on its generic placement, stating: “Whether this form really belongs to the group to which Simon gave the name Cupiennius I cannot say. One would think probably not. The form of the vulva resembles very closely that of Lycoctenus bogotensis (Keys.) [now Ancylometes Bertkau, 1880] and L. brunneus, sp. n., but as Karsch makes no mention of the number of tarsal claws, it is impossible to say for certain. In any case It does not belong to the genus Phoneutria”. Petrunkevitch (1911: 479) may have used these remarks to justify his synonymy of P. oculifera with C. salei, which was not explained explicitly in his work. Petrunkevitch’s synonymy was subsequently accepted by Roewer (1942) and Bonnet (1956) and in total was maintained for nearly 75 years.

Sherwood, D., Cobo, S.A., Dunlop, J.A., Tsavalas, A.T., Geci, D., Lucas, S.M. & Brescovit, A.D. (2025) Reidentification of historical specimens assigned to Cupiennius oculifer (Karsch, 1879) (Araneae: Trechaleidae). Zootaxa, 5723 (1), 138–142. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5723.1.8