New predatory interaction of Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) on Fidicinini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a forest fragment of the Neotropical region

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  New predatory interaction of Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) on Fidicinini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a forest fragment of the Neotropical region Abstract Trichonephila clavipes (Araneae: Nephilidae) is an orb web-building spider whose diet is primarily based on flying insects. This note aims to report the first predatory interaction of T. clavipes on a cicada of the genus Fidicina (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in a fragment of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The predation event was observed (ad libitum) in the Benjamin Maranhão Botanical Garden situated in the Mata do Buraquinho Wildlife Refuge, northeastern Brazil. A specimen of Fidicina sp. was found freshly dead and trapped in the web of T. clavipes. The nephilid was observed moving slowly between the ventral and dorsal regions of the Fidicina sp. without weaving a web around the cicadid. Then, T. clavipes was observed perched on the left side of the Fidicina sp., with its pedipalps and chelicerae manipulating the thorax ...

Five new species of the trapdoor spider genus Latouchia Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Halonoproctidae) from China

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Five new species of the trapdoor spider genus Latouchia Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Halonoproctidae) from China

Abstract

Five new species of the trapdoor spider genus Latouchia Pocock, 1901 are described from southern China based on both morphological and molecular evidence: L. jihe sp. nov. (♂♀), L. wufeng sp. nov. (♂♀), L. wuhan sp. nov. (♂♀), L. yinggen sp. nov. (♂♀), and L. zhangping sp. nov. (♂♀). The male and female of L. jinyun Hao, Yu & Zhang, 2025 are also redescribed from specimens collected in Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, China, located over 100 km from the type locality in Chongqing Municipality. Species delimitation is supported by genetic distance analyses of the mitochondrial DNA barcode gene (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI), comparing the five new species with five previously described taxa. GenBank accession codes for the five new species and L. jinyun are provided to facilitate future identification and taxonomic research.

Xiong Y, Li D, Xu X (2025) Five new species of the trapdoor spider genus Latouchia Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Halonoproctidae) from China. ZooKeys 1265: 103-127. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1265.175629