TAXONOMICAL REVISION OF ANYPHOPS BENOIT (ARANEAE, SELENOPIDAE) AND NEW G TO AFROTROPICAL REGION

CORRONCA, J. A.

Congreso; 17Th International Arachnological Congress, Sao Pa; 2007

international Arachnological Society

Selenopidae is a small spider family represented by 189 species into four genera: Selenops Latreille, 1819, Anyphops Benoit, 1968, Hovops Benoit, 1968 and Garcorops Corronca, 2003. The great diversity of this family is known from the Afrotropical region where all the genera are represented, three of them endemics. In the last years, the taxonomy of the cosmotropical genus Selenops was revised by Corronca from the Afrotropical region, Garcorops genus was described from Madagascar and the neighboring islands, and new species, partial taxonomical revision and comments about the distribution of Anyphops genus was yet considered by Corronca in different papers. Anyphops includes four species groups characterized only by the presence of four, five, six and seven pairs of ventral spines on the leg tibiae I-II. Other taxonomical characters very useful in the taxonomy of spiders and especially on Selenopidae, e.g. genitalic characters, were not used to separate these species groups. Benoit included 56 species into Anyphops without considers a deep revision of the genitalic characters and expressed that the epigyne of the female and the palp of the male are variable structures throughout the genus. After revise all the type specimens of this genus and a great amount of material deposited in different European, American and African museums permit me to establish that the number of ventral spines on the leg tibiae I-II used until now to separate the species groups of Anyphops is a variable character and sometimes the same specimen has different spination formula on the left and the right legs. According with it, this character is not good enough to be used if we want to re-order the species of Anyphops in species groups or in new genera. The repeat patterns found on several characters of the palp of the male and the epigynum of the female permit me here to re-define Anyphops and to propose 5 new genera from the Afrotropical Region. During this taxonomical revision I found 44 new species that are included into the new genera. Now, Anyphops genus is represented by only 13 species