What’s a Spider? Designation of the Neotype for the First Animal Species Ever Described, Araneus angulatus Clerck 1757 (Araneae: Araneidae)

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  What’s a Spider? Designation of the Neotype for the First Animal Species Ever Described, Araneus angulatus Clerck 1757 (Araneae: Araneidae) Abstract We designate a neotype for the Eurasian spider species Araneus angulatus Clerck, 1757, thereby fixing the objective application of the species name, the genus name Araneus Clerck 1757, the family name Araneidae Clerck 1757, and the superfamily name Araneoidea Clerck 1757. By etymology and arachnological tradition, it also unofficially fixes the application of the ordinal name Araneae Clerck 1757 and thus answers the uncontroversial question, “What’s a spider?” A. angulatus also happens to be historically the first animal species ever described because Clerck (1757) has priority over Linnaeus (1758). Neotype designation is justified for three reasons: the syntypes of A. angulatus are lost; “ A. angulatus ” contains significant COI sequence divergence, potentially representing intraspecific variation, misidentifications, or as many...

ERGA-BGE-CBP chromosome-level genome assembly of the blind scorpion Belisarius xambeui Simon, 1879 (Belisariidae, Scorpiones), the most singular scorpion in Europe

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ERGA-BGE-CBP chromosome-level genome assembly of the blind scorpion Belisarius xambeui Simon, 1879 (Belisariidae, Scorpiones), the most singular scorpion in Europe

Abstract

We present a chromosome-level reference genome for the blind scorpion Belisarius xambeui Simon, 1879 (Belisariidae, Scorpiones). The genome size estimated by flow cytometry (4.32 Gb) closely matches the final assembly size (3.98 Gb). The final assembly comprises 19,045 scaffolds, including 56 chromosome-level scaffolds (pseudochromosomes) that account for 90.08% of the total assembly. Nucleotide diversity across the genome was low, with an average π of 0.0018.

Guirao-Rico S, Pisarenco VA, Escuer P et al. ERGA-BGE-CBP chromosome-level genome assembly of the blind scorpion Belisarius xambeui Simon, 1879 (Belisariidae, Scorpiones), the most singular scorpion in Europe [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. Open Res Europe 2026, 6:53 (https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.22872.1)