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...

New considerations on the species of the genus Bothriurus Peters (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) described or cited from the state of Paraná, Brazil and description of a new species

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New considerations on the species of the genus Bothriurus Peters (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) described or cited from the state of Paraná, Brazil and description of a new species

Abstract

A new species, Bothriurus trifinium sp. n. is described from an area of Riparian wet-forests in the Northwest of the state of Paraná in Brazil. The new species can be associated with other species previously described from the nearby regions of Paraná but also from Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraguay. The description of this new species attests once again about the existence of micro-endemic populations within different groups of Bothriurus. Comments are also proposed on the taxonomic status of some previously described species, with one species revalidated and some synonymies suggested.

Wilson R. Lourenço, Lucienne Wilmé, Éric Ythier. New considerations on the species of the genus Bothriurus Peters (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) described or cited from the state of Paraná, Brazil and description of a new species.. Faunitaxys, 2026, 14 (56), pp.1-10. ⟨10.57800/faunitaxys-14(56)⟩. ⟨hal-05716551⟩