Thursday, September 17, 2015

[Arachnology • 2015] May gen. n. (Araneae: Sparassidae): A Unique Lineage from southern Africa supported by Morphological and Molecular features


May bruno  Jäger & Krehenwinkel, 2015
Figs 46–49. May bruno gen. n. sp. n. from Witsand, South Africa: (46) habitat; (47) burrow with opened lid; (48–49) habitus of live spider.
(Figs 46–47, 49) by Jon Leroy; (48) by Dirk Kunz.

Abstract

A new genus of huntsman spiders, May gen. n. is described from southern Africa, together with four new species: M. bruno sp. n. (♂, ♀; South Africa), M. ansie sp. n. (♂; Namibia), M. rudy sp. n. (♂; Namibia) and M. norm sp. n. (♀; Namibia). Diagnostic characters proposed include not only those for the genus but also for the so-called African clade. Unique within the entire family are the reduction of the gnathocoxal serrula and the prolaterad embolus. Special claw tuft setae and metatarsi I to III with three prolateral and retrolateral spines, respectively, occur in the entire African clade. A proximal cymbial shoulder in the male palp, the fused lateral lobes of the epigyne and the prolateral proximal spine of leg I shifted to a median position is characteristic for May gen. n. A family-wide analysis of genetic distance in the nuclear 28SrDNA gene (28s), including M. bruno sp. n., supports its isolated placement and thus the genus hypothesis.

Special tufts of setae allow the spider to remain on the sand’s surface.
photo: Senckenberg/Kunz

May bruno gen. n. sp. n. from Witsand, South Africa
photo: Jon Leroy

P. Jäger and H. Krehenwinkel. 2015. May gen. n. (Araneae: Sparassidae): A Unique Lineage from southern Africa supported by Morphological and Molecular features. African Invertebrates. 56(2); 365–392. 
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3C292625-7B54-434F-9F24-819DE8D3FF15

New Genus, Four New Species of Huntsman Spiders Discovered in Southern Africa:
  Sci-News.Com/biology/science-genus-may-huntsman-spiders-03248.html
Four new species of huntsman spiders have been discovered in southern Africa
phy.so/361614058 via @physorg_com