A revision of the Afrotropical Spider Genus Mandaneta Strand, 1932 (Araneae, Corinnidae).

CHARLES RICHARD HADDAD; ALEXANDRE BRAGIO BONALDO; MARTÍN JAVIER RAMÍREZ; FACUNDO MARTÍN LABARQUE

Lajuma, Sudáfrica

Simposio; 9th African Arachnological Colloquium; 2008

The spiders of the monotypic genus Mandaneta Strand, 1932, a replacement name for the invalid Mandane Karsch, 1880, are among the most enigmatic African corinnids. Besides the generic name change, no further contributions to the knowledge of the genus were made since the description of its type species, Mandanetasudana (Karsch, 1880). We present a first taxonomic revision of the genus, redescribing the type-species, describing its female for the first time, and describing a new species, based also in both sexes. The relationships of Mandaneta with other Corinnidae genera are yet to be determined. Presently, this and a few other African, South American and Asian genera are regarded as incertae sedis in Corinnidae, since its inclusion in the subfamily Corinninae was recently rejected and even the monophily of the family itself was seriously contested. Mandaneta seems to be a basal corinnid, which retained the median apophysis in the male palpal bulbus and lacks the specializations of corinnines or castianeirines. The Corinnidae subfamilies are still to be delimited more precisely, taking into account the old world genera. A preliminary hypothesis of relationships of taxa included in the large clade Dionycha (MJR, personal data) suggests that Mandaneta is the sister group of a monophyletic group composed by the subfamilies Castianeirinae, Corinninae and a group formed by the African genera Procopius Thorell and Pseudocorinna Simon.