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1 March 2009 Case 3475
Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839 (Araneae, salticidae): proposed conservation of the generic name
Jason A. Dunlop, David Penney
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Abstract

The purpose of this application, under Article 23.9.3 of the Code, is to conserve the generic name Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839 for a well-known and widespread group of extant, ant-mimicking jumping spiders (Araneae, salticidae) by suppression of a little-used senior subjective synonym, Entomocephalus Holl, 1829, introduced for a fossil spider preserved in either Eocene Baltic amber or perhaps in Subrecent copal. Holl (1829) based this name on drawings in an earlier work by Schweigger (1819). This original description did not state the number of specimens, but only one was figured, which we presume to represent the holotype by monotypy. Its repository could not be traced and we are not aware of subsequent specimens which could provide a neotype. However, the illustration of an ant-like salticid by Schweigger is of sufficient quality that we consider it likely that Entomocephalus and Myrmarachne are synonyms.

Jason A. Dunlop and David Penney "Case 3475
Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839 (Araneae, salticidae): proposed conservation of the generic name," The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 66(1), 20-23, (1 March 2009). https://doi.org/10.21805/bzn.v66i1.a2
Published: 1 March 2009
KEYWORDS
Araneae
Baltic amber
Entomocephalus
Myrmarachne
Myrmarachne melanocephala
nomenclature
salticid spider
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