Corresponding author: Ingi Agnarsson (
Academic editor: M. Arnedo
LeMay GA, Agnarsson I (2020) New species of smiley-faced spider
American cobweb spiders (
To date, only taxa from the Caribbean region have been revisited since Levi’s revisions, but here we examine samples made available by loan from Brazil provided by the
Specimens were deposited in the following collection:
Sternum 0.77 long, 0.51 wide, extending half way between coxae IV, light yellow. Abdomen 3.16 long, 1.04 wide, 0.88 high. Narrow to oval without humps (Fig.
Epigynum with widely spaced and distinctly round copulatory openings and copulatory ducts spirals extending beyond the ectal margin of spermathecae.
Male pedipalp with an extremely long spiral traversing the entire outer edge of the tegulum, leaving a large area of the tegulum exposed (Fig.
Epigynum with very large and robustly sclerotized spermathecae and relatively small copulatory openings, with clearly sclerotized edges (Fig.
Male pedipalp with all sclerites tightly packed at the distal end of the tegulum, leaving the tegulum largely exposed, embolus relatively short (Fig.
This species epithet refers to the municipality of Santo Antônio de Leverger, the location in which the holotype female was collected.
The recent phylogenetic analysis of
Given geographical variation observed in the samples here, and the clear patterns from the Caribbean of short-range endemics, we expect additional sampling of fresh DNA grade material throughout South America to lead to the discovery of very numerous new species. Thus, South American
Thanks to Arno Lise for arranging specimen loan from Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia Pontifícia. Lisa Chamberland assisted with photography work. Antonio D. Brescovit provided useful comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by NSF grant (DEB-1050187-1050253) to IA and G. Binford and (DBI-1349205) to D. Barrington, IA, and C.W. Kilpatrick.