In Memoriam: Giraldo Alayón García

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  In Memoriam: Giraldo Alayón García -  Photo © Facebook/National Museum of Natural History of Cuba In Memoriam: Giraldo Alayón García The arachnological community mourns the loss of Giraldo Alayón García, a Cuban zoologist whose work helped bring the spiders of Cuba and the wider Caribbean into clearer scientific view. As a researcher and curator at Cuba’s National Museum of Natural History, Dr. Alayón devoted decades to studying arachnids. His publications on spider taxonomy, evolution, and biogeography gave other researchers a stronger foundation for understanding the region’s biodiversity. He also shared that knowledge through teaching and scientific exchange far beyond Cuba. For those of us who care about taxonomy, his legacy is a reminder of the patient work behind every species description: examining specimens, recording differences, and preserving knowledge that others can build upon. His contributions will continue to guide the study of Caribbean spiders for years to ...

Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 from Brazil with the first male description of H. rufescens (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Dipluridae)

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Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 from Brazil with the first male description of H. rufescens (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Dipluridae)

Abstract
Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 are described from the Cerrado biome of Brazil. Three new species are from Tocantins state, in the North region of Brazil: H. arraias n. sp. (♂), H. palmas n. sp. (♂♀), H. tocantins n. sp. (♂), and one new species is from Mato Grosso state, in the Central-west Brazil: H. guimaraes n. sp. (♂♀). Furthermore, we here describe for the first time the male of H. rufescens F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 and expand the distribution range of this species and that of H. candango Wermelinger-Moreira, Castanheira & Baptista 2024.
Gabriel Wermelinger-Moreira, Renner Luiz Cerqueira Baptista, Four new species of Harmonicon F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1896 from Brazil with the first male description of H. rufescens (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Dipluridae), Acta Arachnologica, 2026, Volume 75, Issue 1, Pages 25-46, Released on J-STAGE June 07, 2026, Online ISSN 1880-7852, Print ISSN 0001-5202, https://doi.org/10.2476/asjaa.75.25, https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/asjaa/75/1/75_25/_article/-char/en