The first species of the genus Caponina from Brazilian Amazonia (Araneae: Caponiidae)

Author(s)

Brescovit, Antonio D. ^[1] ; Ruiz, Alexander Sanchez ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Inst Butantan, Lab Especial Colecoes Zool, BR-05503900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Letter
• Source: Zootaxa; v. 3640, n. 2, p. 296-298, APR 17 2013.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

The genus Caponina Simon, 1891 comprises eleven species of medium-sized, soil-dwelling caponiids. Most members of Caponina have six eyes, but some have five, four, three or two eyes (Brignoli 1977, Platnick 1994). The genus is widespread in South and Central America (Platnick 2012). To date, only three species have been recorded from Brazil: Caponina alegre Platnick, 1994 from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, C. notabilis (Mello-Leitao, 1939) from the states of Parana and Rio Grande do Sul, and C. tijuca Platnick, 1994 from the state of Rio de Janeiro (Platnick 1994). In this paper we describe a new species from the state of Para, in Brazilian Amazonia. Caponina papamanga new species was collected during the ``Butantan na Amazonia{''} project, founded by the Instituto Butantan. The phylogenetic relationships of C. papamanga could not be studied, but the greatly elongated embolus, the dorsal tubercle on the palpal femur (Figs. 7, 9) and the massive epigynal sclerotizations (Fig. 10) suggest that this species belongs to the monophyletic Andean group proposed by Platnick (1994: 7). All morphological observations and illustrations were made using a Leica MZ12 stereomicroscope with camera lucida. The epigynum was dissected and immersed in clove oil for visualization of internal structures following Levi (1965). Descriptions and measurements follow Platnick (1994). Measurements are given in millimeters. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were taken using a Jeol-JSM-5200 with attached SLR digital camera. The material examined was deposited in the collections of the Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo (IBSP, curator: D.M. Barros Battesti) and the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem (MPEG, curator: A.B. Bonaldo). (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/50689-0 - Systematic of the neotropical haplogynae spiders (Arachnida, Araneae)
• Grantee: Antonio Domingos Brescovit
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 12/09680-1 - Taxonomy revision, phylogeny and biogeographical aspects of the neotropical spider genus Nops MacLeay, 1839 (Araneae, Caponiidae, Nopinae)
• Grantee: Alexander Sanchez Ruiz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral