Description of three new species of Isoctenus Bertkau, 1880 and new records for I. areia Polotow & Brescovit (Araneae, Ctenidae) from northeastern Brazil

Three new species of the genus Isoctenus Bertkau, 1880 are described from the state of Bahia, in the northeast of Brazil: Isoctenus jussara new species, Isoctenus cabula new species, and Isoctenus botocudos new species. In addition, new records of Isoctenus areia Polotow and Brescovit, 2009 are presented. Previously known only from the city of Areia, state of Paraíba, its distribution now expands to the cities of Mamanguape, state of Paraíba, and Igarassu, state of Pernambuco.

Revision of the Neotropical spider genus Acanthoctenus (Araneae: Ctenidae: Acanthocteninae)

We revise the genus Acanthoctenus Keyserling, 1877 recognizing thirteen valid species, of which five are new species and two are re-validated. Further, we find one new synonymy and transfer one species. We describe Acanthoctenus alux sp. nov. from Guatemala, A. chickeringi sp. nov. and A. lamarrei sp. nov. from Panama, A. manauara sp. nov. from Brazil and A. torotoro sp. nov. from Bolivia. We revalidate Acanthoctenus dumicola Simon, 1906 stat. res. from Venezuela, and A. virginea (Kraus, 1955) stat. res., comb. nov. from El Salvador. We transfer Acanthoctenus mammifer to Viracucha mammifer (Mello-Leitão, 1939) comb. nov., from Brazil. Acanthoctenus maculatus Petrunkevitch, 1925 and Gephyroctenus kolosvaryi Caporiacco, 1947 are considered species inquirendae in Acanthocteninae and Ctenidae, respectively, and A. obauratus Simon, 1906 and A. rubrotaeniatus Mello-Leitão, 1947 are considered incertae sedis in Acanthocteninae and Acantheinae, respectively. We also describe for the first time the female of Acanthoctenus spiniger Keyserling, 1877, the type species of the genus. We provide illustrations of male and female diagnostic characters, genitalia, habitus, and measurements to support the genus re-description and further identification of its species. We yield a distributional map of the specimens recorded and the description of the natural history of Acanthoctenus manauara sp. nov.

Description of a new Neotropical spider genus in the family Ctenidae Keyserling, 1877 (Araneae: Lycosoidea) from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest

A new Neotropical genus of Ctenidae from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest is described based on male and female characters: Bulboctenus gen. nov. Three new species are described for the genus: Bulboctenus kayapo sp. nov., Bulboctenus itunaitata sp. nov. and Bulboctenus munduruku sp. nov. The genus can be distinguished from other Ctenidae by males with median apophysis oriented horizontally, perpendicular to the tegulum, RTA strongly excavated anteriorly, metatarsi III and IV with bulbous setae ventrally, sternum and coxae with thick setae; and females with median sector of the epigyne hexagonal with two posterior conical projections ventrally and elevated lateral margins. Discussion on the modification on the leg setae across the Neotropical Ctenids species are given.

Six new species of the spider genus Centroctenus Mello-Leitão from the Neotropical region (Ctenidae, Cteninae)

The species of the genus Centroctenus can be distinguished from other Ctenidae genera by the presence of a long tibiae and the absence of a retrolateral projection of the cymbium in the male palp, and by the presence of a rounded spermathecae in the female epigynum. The composition of this spider genus is herein expanded to eleven Neotropical species, with the description of six new species: Centroctenus dourados sp. n., C. claudia sp. n., C. chalkidisi sp. n., and C. varzea sp. n., from Brazil; and Centroctenus coloso sp. n. from Colombia and Centroctenus alinahui sp. n. from Ecuador. A map with the distribution of all known species in the genus is presented.

Almost eight decades later: description of the male of Isoctenus guadalupei (Mello-Leitão, 1941) comb. nov. and redescription of the female

Isoctenus Bertkau 1880 is a genus composed by medium to large sized (7 to 19 mm of total body length) Neotropical spiders (Polotow Brescovit 2009). They are nocturnal wandering hunters, which prey in the ground and above leaf litter, as the other tropical wolf spiders of Ctenidae (Griswold et al. 2005). The genus was revised by Polotow Brescovit (2009) and currently contains 15 species, distributed in the Parana (Atlantic, Parana, and Araucaria Forests provinces) and Chacoan (Cerrado and Pampean provinces) dominions (Morrone 2014). Polotow Brescovit (2009) also presented a phylogenetic analysis based on morphological characters, supporting the transference of four species from Ctenus Walckenaer, 1805 to Isoctenus. Later, the genus was included by Polotow Brescovit (2014) in a phylogenetic analysis of Cteninae, and it appears to be related to the Neotropical Parabatinga Polotow Brescovit, 2009 and the Afrotropical Petaloctenus Jocqué Steyn, 1997 and Africactenus Hyatt, 1954, in addition to a couple of misplaced Ctenus species.

Guasuctenus gen. nov., a new Neotropical spider genus of Ctenidae (Araneae)

The new genus Guasuctenus gen. nov. is described based on the results of a recent phylogenetic analysis. This phylogeny, which included representatives of all Ctenidae subfamilies, showed that the genus Ctenus as currently defined, does not comprise a monophyletic group. The results indicated that several species are misplaced in Ctenus and should be transferred to new genera. Aiming to correct the placement of two species originally described in Ctenus, we propose the new genus Guasuctenus to accommodate those species and better represent their phylogenetic relationships. Guasuctenus is supported by the presence of a dorsal cymbial projection in the male palp. Previously regarded as a subspecies, Ctenus longipes vittatissimus Strand, 1916 is here ranked as species, and Guasuctenus longipes (Keyserling, 1891) new comb. and G. vittatissimus (Strand, 1916) new rank, new comb. are redescribed. Ctenus griseus Keyserling, 1891 is recognized as a junior synyonym of Ctenus longipes Keyserling, 1891. Lectotypes and paralectotypes of Guasuctenus vittatissimus (Strand, 1016) are designated for stability. The species of the genus are distributed in southern Brazil and Uruguay.

Kiekie, a new Neotropical spider genus of Ctenidae (Cteninae, Araneae)

Kiekie gen. nov. is newly proposed to accommodate 11 Neotropical Ctenidae species. With the exception of one species from Colombia, they are all distributed in Central America. Two species are transferred from Ctenus: Kiekie sinuatipes (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897) comb. nov. from Costa Rica, and K. curvipes (Keyserling, 1881) comb. nov., with broader distribution from Mexico to Panama. Ctenus incolans (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1900) is synonymized with Kiekie curvipes. Nine species are newly described. Kiekie garifuna sp. nov. was collected in Guatemala and Honduras. Four species were collected in Costa Rica: Kiekie sanjose sp. nov., K. verbena sp. nov., K. sarapiqui sp. nov., and K. griswoldi sp. nov.. Two species were collected in Panama: Kiekie barrocolorado sp. nov. and K. panamensis sp. nov.. Kiekie montanensis sp. nov. was collected in Costa Rica and Panama. Kiekie antioquia sp. nov., from Colombia, was the only species collected in South America. To support the description and further identification of the genus and its species, we provide illustrations of male and female genitalia, habitus and modified metatarsus of the male leg IV, measurements and diagnostic characters. We also provide a distributional map of the specimens herein recorded. Taxonomic changes are based in recent cladistics analysis, showing that at least two species belong to a well-supported clade, sister group of Africactenus Hyatt, 1954. We discuss the phylogenetic relationship of the group and the evolution of key morphological characters.

Systematics and biogeography of Spinoctenus, a new genus of wandering spider from Colombia (Ctenidae)

Among ctenid spiders, ctenines comprise the most diverse subfamily. In this study, a new genus of Cteninae, Spinoctenus, is proposed to include the type species S. yotoco, sp. nov. Ten new species are also described: S. escalerete, S. pericos, S. eberhardi, S. spinosus, S. stephaniae, S. nambi, S. florezi, S. tequendama, S. chocoensis and S. flammigerus. Results of the parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses using morphological and behavioural characters indicate the monophyly of this genus, closely related to Phoneutria Perty, 1883 and Ctenus Walckenaer, 1805. This genus can be distinguished from the remaining Ctenidae by three unambiguous synapomorphies: embolus with folded process, tegulum with median process, and RTA curved internally close to the cymbium. A dispersal-vicariance biogeographical analysis of the genus in the Andean and Chocó regions indicates the origin of Spinoctenus in the Western and Central Andean Cordilleras. From this region, three events of dispersal occurred to the other regions (one to the Chocó and two to the Eastern Cordillera), which were subsequently followed by three events of vicariance, suggesting that dispersal and vicariance were equally important in shaping the current distribution patterns of Spinoctenus species. The discovery of this new genus containing a large number of new species in the Andean and Chocó regions highlights the current poor knowledge of the Colombian biodiversity. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A7DA044C-8A59-4FAE-8F3B-00D3D2498820

Description of a new species of the Afrotropical spider genus <i>Afroneutria</i> (Araneae, Ctenidae)

A species of the Afrotropical spider genus Afroneutria is newly described. Afroneutria tanga sp. nov is endemic to Tanzania, southeast Africa, and can be distinguished from the remaining species of the genus by the retrolateral excavation of the embolus. An identification key for all Afroneutria species is presented.

New records and geographical distribution of ctenid spiders (Araneae: Ctenidae) in Colombia

This study provides new records, geographical distribution extensions and a checklist of the current ctenids species in Colombia based on the review of four arachnological collections and published literature. A total of 15 new records for Ctenidae in Colombia are reported; nine of these species are new records for the country and the distribution of the remaining six is expanded. The genus Centroctenus Mello-Leitão, 1929 (C. ocelliventer Strand, 1909) is recorded for first time in Colombia and Cupiennius coccineus (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1901) for South America. Due to the strategic geographic position of Colombia, which is a transition zone between Southern and Central American biotas, species inventories in different localities are important to fill distributional gaps. The number of known species of ctenids in Colombia is increased from 16 to 25 and these data will be useful for future studies in taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of this family.

Total evidence analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of Lycosoidea spiders (Araneae, Entelegynae)

Phylogenetic relationships within the superfamily Lycosoidea are investigated through the coding and analysis of character data derived from morphology, behaviour and DNA sequences. In total, 61 terminal taxa were studied, representing most of the major groups of the RTA-clade (i.e. spiders that have a retrolateral tibial apophysis on the male palp). Parsimony and model-based approaches were used, and several support values, partitions and implied weighting schemes were explored to assess clade stability. The morphological–behavioural matrix comprised 96 characters, and four gene fragments were used: 28S (~737 base pairs), actin (~371 base pairs), COI (~630 base pairs) and H3 (~354 base pairs). Major conclusions of the phylogenetic analysis include: the concept of Lycosoidea is restricted to seven families: Lycosidae, Pisauridae, Ctenidae, Psechridae, Thomisidae, Oxyopidae (but Ctenidae and Pisauridae are not monophyletic) and also Trechaleidae (not included in the analysis); the monophyly of the ‘Oval Calamistrum clade’ (OC-clade) appears to be unequivocal, with high support, and encompassing the Lycosoidea plus the relimited Zoropsidae and the proposed new family Udubidae (fam. nov.); Zoropsidae is considered as senior synonym of Tengellidae and Zorocratidae (syn. nov.); Viridasiinae (rank nov.) is raised from subfamily to family rank, excluded from the Ctenidae and placed in Dionycha. Our quantitative phylogenetic analysis confirms the synonymy of Halidae with Pisauridae. The grate-shaped tapetum appears independently at least three times and has a complex evolutionary history, with several reversions.

New species of the neotropical spider genus Celaetycheus Simon, 1897 (Araneae: Ctenidae)

Nine species of the Neotropical spider genus Celaetycheus Simon, 1897 are newly described. All the species are endemic to the State of Bahia, northeast of Brazil: Celaetycheus abara sp. nov., C. aberen sp. nov., C. acaraje sp. nov., C. beiju sp. nov., C. bobo sp. nov., C. caruru sp. nov., C. moqueca sp. nov., C. mungunza sp. nov. and C. vatapa sp. nov. A new generic diagnosis, species diagnoses and distributional maps are provided.

Description and ecological notes on Isoctenus malabaris sp. nov. (Araneae, Ctenidae) from southern Brazil

A new species, Isoctenus malabaris, is described from southern Brazil. This spider was abundantly collected with pitfall traps at Araucaria Forests (Mixed Ombrophilous Forest) domain. The activity of this species was studied in three distinct habitats (primary and secondary forests and silvicultures) during 20 months. A bimodal seasonal activity pattern, of males, was observed. Abundance differences of this species between habitats were not significant.