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...

Taxonomy Takes Time: Shortcuts to Synonymy

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Taxonomy Takes Time: Shortcuts to Synonymy

Abstract

Taxonomy is the foundation of biology, providing the currency (species) for biological studies and the handle (epithet) to refer to them. The task at hand is urgent: a race against extinction as most species remain undescribed and expertise declines. In response, various ‘rapid taxonomy’ approaches aim to hasten descriptions. Good examples exist that genuinely accelerate the growth of taxonomic knowledge, but shortcuts risk errors that may take more time to resolve than the original work took to produce. Authors must consider (1) the total time budget, including subsequent revisions necessitated by inadequate taxonomy; (2) the taxonomic literature on regional and widespread taxa; and (3) illustration quality as a critical and enduring component of species description. Reviewers and editors must also ensure minimum standards. I discuss a recent example where shortcuts, instead of accelerating taxonomy, merely borrowed time. Anelosimus blackgardens, Anelosimus covepond, Coleosoma roadsalt—all Sherwood, Mukhida & Connor, 2026—lacked sufficient reference to genus-level revisions and established genus-level synapomorphies and are proposed here as junior synonyms of widespread theridiids: T. dilucidum Simon, 1898 syn. nov., T. melanostictum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 syn. nov., and C. blandum O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1882 syn. nov., respectively. The urgent task of documenting biodiversity can be sped up through effective allocation of effort, but not without due consideration of the taxonomic literature.

Agnarsson, I. (2026). Taxonomy Takes Time: Shortcuts to Synonymy. Taxonomy, 6(3), 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy6030056