A new species of the mygalomorph spider genus Euagrus Ausserer (Araneae: Euagridae) from central Mexico and new records of E. gus Coyle from Tlaxcala

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  A new species of the mygalomorph spider genus Euagrus Ausserer (Araneae: Euagridae) from central Mexico and new records of E. gus Coyle from Tlaxcala Abstract  A new species of the spider genus Euagrus Ausserer, 1875 from temperate pine-oak forests in the states of Tlaxcala and Hidalgo, Mexico is described: E. pulque sp. nov. The description of the new species is based on male and female adult specimens. Additionally, Euagrus gus Coyle, 1988 is recorded for the very first time in the state of Tlaxcala. These species have sympatric distributions in La Malinche National Park, Tlaxcala. With this description, the diversity of the genus increases to 23 species, with Mexico harboring the highest diversity with 17 described species.  Valdez-Mondragón, A., Salinas-Velasco, H. V. & Bueno-Villegas, J. (2026). A new species of the mygalomorph spider genus Euagrus Ausserer (Araneae: Euagridae) from central Mexico and new records of E. gus Coyle from Tlaxcala. Zootaxa 5810 (...

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