Two generic names recently described by J. Prószyński were found to be junior subjective synonyms: Pseudomogrus Simon, 1937 = Logunyllus Prószyński, 2016syn. nov., Hermosa Peckham & Peckham, 1892 = Myrmavola Prószyński, 2016 syn. nov. This causes numerous new and a few revalidated combinations. The systematics of Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839 s. lat. is briefly discussed as well as other recent nomenclatorical acts by J. Prószyński.
Salticidae is the most speciose family of spiders with 6115 extant species (WSC 2019). During the last few years several of the most species-rich genera like Evarcha Simon, 1902, Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839, Sitticus Simon, 1901 and Yllenus Simon, 1868 have been split by Prószyński (2016, 2017a, 2018). Although many of the new genera were based on earlier recognized species groups, the format of the descriptions does not follow common standards, i.e. they lack proper diagnoses (cf. Kropf et al. 2019), and ignored previously described sub-genera or earlier established synonymies (Blick & Marusik 2018). Prószyński (2016, 2017a, 2017b, 2018) did not list or discuss any synonyms mentioned in the WSC (2018) or older catalogues. Furthermore he did not take biogeography into account. While studying the taxonomy and nomenclature of these newly erected genera, we previously found three generic synonyms (Blick & Marusik 2018). Further studies revealed two more subjective generic synonyms, as well as confusing transfers and a dubious genus description.
New synonymies
Pseudomogrus Simon, 1937,
removed from syn. of Yllenus Simon, 1868
Pseudomogrus Simon, 1937: 1185, 1194 (type Attus uni-vittatus Simon, 1871).
Yllenus Simon, 1868 (type Y. arenarius Simon, 1868): Prószyński 1968: 415 (synonymy of Pseudomogrus).
Logunyllus Prószyński, 2016: 29 (type Attus albocinctus Kroneberg, 1875), syn. nov.
New and revalidated combinations. Simon (1937) placed two species in Pseudomogrus: P. univittatus and P. saliens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876). Prószyński (1968) synonymized Pseudomogrus with Yllenus, but Prószyński (2016) placed both, P. univittatus and P. saliens, into Logunyllus and therefore Logunyllus is considered a subjective junior synonym of Pseudomogrus, re-established and removed from synonymy with Yllenus, and 31 new and two revalidated combinations are proposed (distribution information from the WSC 2019):
1) Pseudomogrus albifrons (Lucas, 1846) comb. nov. (North Africa, Middle East)
2) Pseudomogrus albocinctus (Kroneberg, 1875) comb. nov. (Turkey to China)
3) Pseudomogrus algarvensis (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Portugal)
4) Pseudomogrus auriceps (Denis, 1966) comb. nov. (Libya)
5) Pseudomogrus bactrianus (Andreeva, 1976) comb. nov. (Tajikistan)
6) Pseudomogrus bakanas (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Kazakhstan)
7) Pseudomogrus bucharaensis (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan)
8) Pseudomogrus caspicus (Ponomarev, 1978) comb. nov. (Russia (Europe), Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan)
9) Pseudomogrus dalaensis (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Kazakhstan)
10) Pseudomogrus gavdos (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Canary Is., Algeria, Italy (Sardinia), Greece (Crete))
11) Pseudomogrus guseinovi (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan)
12) Pseudomogrus halugim (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Israel)
13) Pseudomogrus improcerus (Wesolowska & van Harten, 1994) comb. nov. (Yemen)
14) Pseudomogrus knappi (Wesolowska & van Harten, 1994) comb. nov. (Sudan, Yemen)
15) Pseudomogrus logunovi (Wesolowska & van Harten, 2010) comb. nov. (United Arab Emirates)
16) Pseudomogrus mirabilis (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan)
17) Pseudomogrus mirandus (Wesolowska, 1996) comb. nov. (Turkmenistan)
18) Pseudomogrus nigritarsis (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Turkmenistan)
19) Pseudomogrus nurataus (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Uzbekistan)
20) Pseudomogrus pavlenkoae (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Kazakhstan)
21) Pseudomogrus pseudovalidus (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan)
22) Pseudomogrus ranunculus (Thorell, 1875) comb. nov. (Algeria)
23) Pseudomogrus saliens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876) comb. reval. (North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen)
24) Pseudomogrus salsicola (Simon, 1937) comb. nov. (France to Israel)
25) Pseudomogrus shakhsenem (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Turkmenistan)
26) Pseudomogrus squamifer (Simon, 1881) comb. nov. (Portugal, Spain)
27) Pseudomogrus tamdybulak (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Uzbekistan)
28) Pseudomogrus tschoni (Caporiacco, 1936) comb. nov. (Libya, Egypt, Israel, United Arab Emirates)
29) Pseudomogrus univittatus (Simon, 1871) comb. reval. (France, Turkey, Turkmenistan?)
30) Pseudomogrus validus (Simon, 1889) comb. nov. (Central Asia to Mongolia)
31) Pseudomogrus vittatus (Thorell, 1875) comb. nov. (Eastern Europe to Kazakhstan)
32) Pseudomogrus zaraensis (Logunov, 2009) comb. nov. (Turkey)
33) Pseudomogrus zhilgaensis (Logunov & Marusik, 2003) comb. nov. (Kazakhstan)
Comment. Prószyński (1968) and Logunov & Marusik (2003) considered all species of Pseudomogrus to belong to the Yllenus albocinctus-group.
Hermosa Peckham & Peckham, 1892,
removed from syn. of Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839
Hermosa Peckham & Peckham, 1892: 53 (type H. volatilis Peckham & Peckham, 1892).
Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839 (type M. melanocephala
MacLeay, 1839): Simon 1901: 503 (synonymy of Hermosa).
Myrmavola Prószyński, 2016: 13 (type Damoetas galianoae Prószyński, 2001), syn. nov.
New and revalidated combinations. Peckham & Peckham (1892) described Hermosa as a monotypic genus for a new species from Madagascar. Simon (1901) synonymized Hermosa with Myrmarachne based on a personal communication with L. C. Peckham. Prószyński (2016) placed seven species in his new genus Myrmavola, including H. volatilis. Therefore, Myrmavola is considered a subjective junior synonym of Hermosa, re-established and removed from synonymy with Myrmarachne, and six new combinations and one revalidated combination are proposed (distribution information from WSC 2019):
1) Hermosa andrewi (Wanless, 1978) comb. nov. (Congo, Angola)
2) Hermosa brevichelicera (Yamasaki & Ahmad, 2013) comb. nov. (Borneo)
3) Hermosa christae (Prószyński, 2001) comb. nov. (Borneo)
4) Hermosa galianoae (Prószyński, 2001) comb. nov. (Borneo)
5) Hermosa volatilis Peckham & Peckham, 1892 comb. reval. (Madagascar, China, Vietnam)
6) Hermosa yamanei (Yamasaki, 2012) comb. nov. (Sulawesi)
7) Hermosa yamasakii (Prószyński, 2016) comb. nov. (Borneo)
Comments. This genus has an unusual range and is known from two distinct regions: 1) Africa (central and southern, Madagascar) and 2) Southeast Asia (South China to Sulawesi). Hermosa volatilis was described based on females from Madagascar, but the male was described based on specimens from China. Wanless (1978) revised the African Myrmarachne and placed H. volatilis in the volatilis species group together with five other species. Only one of these species, Hermosa andrewi (Wanless, 1976) comb. nov., was placed by Prószyński (2016) in the genus Myrmavola. The other species considered by Wanless (1978) in the volatilis-group were transferred by Prószyński (2016) either to Toxeus C. L. Koch, 1846 or remained in Myrmarachne (WSC 2019). From a biogeographic point of view it is a quite possible that the African and the Asian members of Hermosa are not congeneric.
Comments on Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839
While splitting Myrmarachne and other genera, Prószyński (2016) did not mention earlier established generic synonyms (cf. Edwards 2013 for Myrmarachne s. lat.). At least three of these might be available names for genera split from Myrmarachne by Prószyński (2016):
1) Ascalus Thorell, 1894 (type A. pygmaeus Thorell, 1894, ♀from Singapore), synonymized with Myrmarachne by Simon (1901: 504). This monotypic genus is known from the original description only and lacks any figures. It could be a synonym of one of Prószyński's genera, e.g., Myrmaplata Prószyński, 2016, which is also known from Singapore.
2) Herilus Thorell, 1894 (type H. radiatus Thorell, 1894, j from Java), synonymized with Myrmarachne by Bonnet (1957: 2998). This monotypic genus is known from the original figureless description. It could be a synonym of one of Prószyński's genera described for species occurring in Southeast Asia.
3) Pergasus Thorell, 1894 (type Salticus formosus Thorell, 1890, ♀ from Sumatra and Sulawesi), synonymized with Myrmarachne by Simon (1901: 504). This monotypic genus was also never illustrated. It could be a synonym of one of Prószyński's genera, e.g., Myrmatheca Prószyński, 2016, occurring in Sumatra.
Confusion caused by new nomenclatorial acts
Savaiia Marples, 1957
Savaiia Marples, 1957 (type S. punctata Marples, 1957, only ♀ known) was synonymized with Pseudicius Simon, 1885 by Prószyński (1990: 316). Currently the type species of Savaiia, S. punctata, was transferred by Prószyński (2017b) to Afraflacilla Berland & Millot, 1941, but he did not synonymize the genus, so even the transfer of the species was not accepted in the WSC (2019) and Savaiia is still treated as a junior synonym of Pseudicius, but not of Afraflacilla. We compared published figures of the type species of the three genera (Afraflacilla bamakoi Berland & Millot, 1941: Żabka 1993: fig. 3A-C ♂ and fig. 3D-E Afraflacilla sp. ♀ [♀ of A. bamakoi is unknown]; Pseudicius encarpatus (Walckenaer, 1802): Metzner 1999: pl. 57; Savaiia punctata: Berry et al. 1998: figs 60-61) and agree with Prószyński that S. punctata seems to be closer to Afrafacilla than to Pseudicius. Given that the type species of Afraflacilla is described from Africa, the type species of Pseudicius from Europe and Savaiia from Pacific islands, we leave it to a proper revision to clarify the current situation.
Hasarina Schenkel, 1963
Hasarina Schenkel, 1963 (type H. contortospinosa Schenkel, 1963) was synonymized with Nigorella Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 (type N. aethiopica Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008) by Prószyński (2018b: 157), without recognizing, that Hasarina is older than Nigorella and would become the valid generic name (not accepted in the WSC 2019). We compared published figures of N. aethiopica (Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz 2008: figs 130-143) with figures of H. contortospinosa (Peng et al. 1993: figs 254-263) and do not believe them to be congeneric. Furthermore, Nigorella was described from Africa and was restricted to Africa until Prószyński (2018) transferred several Asian species from Evarcha to Nigorella, which in our opinion needs revision.
Note on Iberattus Prószyński, 2018
Iberattus Prószyński, in Prószyński et al. 2018: 83 (type Attus semi-glabratus Simon, 1868).
Iberattus semiglabratus (Simon, 1868)
Attus semi-glabratus Simon, 1868: 561 (♂).
Euophrys semiglabrata Hęciak & Prószyński 1984: 378, figs 1-14 (♂ ♀).
Euophrys semiglabrata Barrientos et al. 2014: 36, figs 15-17 (♂).
Iberattus semiglabratus Prószyński et al. 2018: 85, fig. 1A-T (♂ ♀).
Comments. Attus semi-glabratus Simon, 1868 was described based on the holotype male: “Un seul individu ♂ pris à Reynosa dans les Asturies” [“A single ♂ taken at Reynosa in Asturias” now spelled ‘Reinosa’, NW Spain]. In the material examined Prószyński et al. (2018) wrote “Lectotype male, paralectotypes: 4 males and 4 females, original collection label is: “902. Phl.[egra] semiglabrata E. S. Astur., Portug., la Rhune” – collection Simon – MNHN Paris (lectotype designated by Hęciak & Prószyński 1984)”. So, Hęciak & Prószyński (1984) and Prószyński et al. (2018) were not dealing with the holotype male, but with a sample possibly containing the holotype and other specimens collected after the species was described. In addition, Prószyński et al. (2018) mentioned that the authors were not sure if males and females belong to the same species “Matching of sexes and conspecificity not verified”. This is not a proper basis to separate a new genus from the genus Euophrys, but we leave it to a revision to clarify this situation.
Acknowledgements
We thank the reviewers Galina Azarkina (Novosibirsk), G. B. Edwards (Tallahassee, Florida) and Dmitri Logunov (Manchester) for helpful comments and last not least Jason Dunlop (Berlin) for improving the language.