The one‐palped spider generaTidarrenandEchinotheridionin the Old World (Araneae, Theridiidae), with comparative remarks onTidarrenfrom America

Abstract

The one‐palped spider genera Tidarren and Echinotheridion are more or less confined to the tropics and subtropics of the southern hemisphere, with occurrence in South America, continental Africa, Madagascar, Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, and Yemen. This comparative description of the taxonomy and biology of the one‐palped spiders in the Old World comprises altogether 22 species, of which 17 are new to science. Four new species of Tidarren are described from Yemen (T. dentigerum n. sp. ♂♀, T. gracile n. sp. ♂♀, T. konrad n. sp. ♀, and T. sheba n. sp. ♂♀), eight from mainland Africa (T. aethiops n. sp. ♀, T. afrum n. sp. ♀, T. circe n. sp. ♀, T. griswoldi n. sp. ♀, T. lanceolatum n. sp. ♀, T. perplexum n. sp. ♀, T. ubickorum n. sp. ♀, and T. usambara n. sp. ♀), and five from Madagascar (T. apartiolum n. sp. ♀, T. dasyglossa n. sp. ♀, T. ephemerum n. sp. ♂, T. horaki n. sp. ♀, and T. obtusum n. sp. ♂♀). Three new synonyms are established. Tidarren chevalieri nov. syn. is a junior synonym of T. cuneolatum. Theridion guineense Simon, 1907 Simon, E. 1907. Arachnides recueillis par L. Fea sur la côte occidentale d'Afrique, 1^re partie.. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova (Serie 3), 3(43): 218–323. 3 figures [Google Scholar] nov. syn. and Theridion turrigerum Simon, 1899 Simon, E. 1899. Arachnides recueillis par M. Charles van Cassel, sous‐officier d'infanterie attaché à la mission du Cavally (Soudan français), au poste du Zo, en Septembre 1899.. Bulletin du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, 8: 416–418. [Google Scholar] nov. syn. are synonymized with Tidarren scenicum (Thorell, 1899 Thorell, T. 1899. Araneae Camerunenses (Africae occidentalis) quas anno 1891 colegerunt Cel. Dr. Y. Sjöstedt alique.. Bihang till Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps‐Akademiens Handlingar, 25: 1–105. [Google Scholar] ) nov. comb. (transferred from Theridion). The following further species are reconsidered: Tidarren argo Knoflach and van Harten, 2001 Knoflach, B. and van Harten, A. 2001. Tidarren argo sp. nov. (Araneae, Theridiidae) and its exceptional copulatory behaviour: emasculation, male palpal organ as a mating plug and sexual cannibalism.. Journal of Zoology, London, 254: 449–459. [Google Scholar] from Yemen, with a first record also from Chad; T. cuneolatum (Tullgren, 1910 Tullgren, A. 1910. Arachnoidea 6. Araneae.. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Zoologischen Expedition nach dem Kilimandjaro, dem Meru und den Umgebenden Massaisteppen Deutsch‐Ostafrikas 1905–1906 (Stockholm), 3(20): 85–172. Tables 1–4 [Google Scholar] ) from mainland Africa, Yemen, and the Canary Islands; and T. levii Schmidt, 1957 Schmidt, G. 1957. Zur Spinnenfauna der aus Belgisch‐Congo eingeführten Bananen.. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 158: 280–284. [Google Scholar] and T. scenicum from mainland Africa. In addition, the three American species T. haemorrhoidale (Bertkau, 1880 Bertkau, P. 1880. Verzeichniss der von Prof. Ed. van Beneden auf seiner im Auftrage der Belgischen Regierung unternommenen wissenschaftlichen Reise nach Brasilien und La Plata in den Jahren 1872–75 gesammelten Arachniden.. Mémoires Couronnés et Memoires des Savants Étrangers, Publiés par l'Academie Royal des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux‐Arts de Belgique, 43: 1–120. Plates 1, 2 [Google Scholar] ), T. mixtum (O. P.‐Cambridge, 1896 Cambridge, O. P. 1896. “Arachnida. Araneida.”. In Biologia Centrali‐Americana, Zoology Volume 1, 161–224. London [Google Scholar] ), and T. sisyphoides (Walckenaer, 1842 Walckenaer, C. A. 1842. Histoire naturelle des Insects: Aptères., Volume 2, 549 Paris: Roret. [Google Scholar] ) are included for comparison. Thus all hitherto known Tidarren species of the world are covered. A key for the Yemeni species is provided (males and females) as well as a tentative key for the African species (females only; Madagascar included) and the American species. For T. dentigerum and T. gracile from Yemen we give a first description of the copulatory behaviour. The genus Echinotheridion, though represented by eight New World species, is known from only one species in the Old World, E. gibberosum (Kulczynski, 1899 Kulczynski, W. 1899. Arachnoidea opera Rev. E. Schmitz collecta in insulis Maderianis et in insulis Selvages dictis.. Rozprawy i Sprawozdania z Posiedzen Wydzialu Matematyczno Przyrodniczego Akademji Umiejetnosci, Krakow, 36: 319–461. [Google Scholar] ) from the Canary Islands and Madeira. Comparative notes on this endemic offshoot are given.