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...

A new species of the web-inhabiting bug genus Heissophila Schuh (Hemiptera, Plokiophilidae) from China, with notes on host associations for the genus

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A new species of the web-inhabiting bug genus Heissophila Schuh (Hemiptera, Plokiophilidae) from China, with notes on host associations for the genus

Abstract

A new species of web-loving bug, Heissophila sinica sp. nov. (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Plokiophilidae, Heissophilinae), is described from Fujian and Guangdong, China. The species was found inhabiting the webs of Orientothele sp. and Vacrothele sp. (Araneae, Macrothelidae). It represents the second described species of the genus Heissophila Schuh, 2006 and expands the distributional records of the genus in the Oriental region. The new species can be distinguished from its only known congener by its smaller body size, predominantly brachypterous form, veinless hemelytral membrane, and corial glands with distinct morphology restricted to the hemelytra. The generic diagnosis of Heissophila is revised, a key to species of the genus and a new distribution map are provided. Additionally, the habitat, host spiders, and biological characteristics of the new species are briefly documented.

Xiong H, Chen Z, Li H, Cai W (2026) A new species of the web-inhabiting bug genus Heissophila Schuh (Hemiptera, Plokiophilidae) from China, with notes on host associations for the genus. ZooKeys 1296: 11-25. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1296.200871