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
