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...

Forty New Faunistic Records of Spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae) for the Republic of Kosovo

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Forty New Faunistic Records of Spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae) for the Republic of Kosovo

Simple Summary

The Republic of Kosovo is a landlocked country in the Balkan Peninsula, characterised by large mountainous borders and divided by three distinct ecoregions. As with many aspects of its invertebrate biology, Kosovo is a hitherto poorly-studied country for arachnids, especially spiders (Araneae). Consequently, several years of fieldwork by the authors has aimed to sample spiders from as many localities, habitats and microhabitat types as possible. Voucher specimens were taken for all morphospecies and compared against the published literature and online resources such as the World Spider Catalog and Araneae: Spiders of Europe. Consequently, this work reports 40 species of spider newly recorded from within the borders of the Republic of Kosovo, significantly expanding knowledge of the faunistic diversity and distribution of spiders within the country. The habitus and genitalia of all species are illustrated to justify the identifications made and to provide reference images for other workers in the Balkans to aid in their identification of faunistically widespread species.

Abstract

This study presents new faunistic records of spiders (Araneae) from Kosovo. A total of 40 species are reported for the first time from the country, simultaneously being the first country records for 14 genera, two of which also being newly recorded families. All newly recorded taxa are documented with photographs of the genital organs to facilitate identification and verification. These findings significantly increase knowledge of the distribution and diversity of spiders in Kosovo, highlighting how unexplored the arachnofauna of Kosovo is in comparison to neighbouring countries in the Balkans. Our results emphasise the importance of continued faunistic surveys and taxonomic studies in the region in order to improve our understanding of species diversity and biogeographic patterns.


Geci, D., Hoerrmann, T., Ibrahimi, H., Bilalli, A., Musliu, M., Grapci-Kotori, L., & Sherwood, D. (2026). Forty New Faunistic Records of Spiders (Araneae: Araneomorphae) for the Republic of Kosovo. Animals, 16(17), 2748. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16172748