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The genus Neocranaus Roewer, 1913 is revisited, its composition is expanded from two to five species and a new generic diagnosis is presented. Neocranaus albiconspersus Roewer, 1913, type species of the genus, is redescribed. The genus Tolimaius Roewer, 1915 syn. nov. is considered as a junior subjective synonym of Neocranaus, its sole member being transferred to Neocranaus – N. pectinitibialis (Roewer, 1915) comb. nov. – and redescribed here. The new combination Neocranaus laevifrons (Roewer, 1917) comb. nov. is proposed for Holocranaus laevifrons Roewer, 1917. The new species Neocranaus gladius Villarreal & Kury sp. nov. is described, from P.N.N. Yariguíes, Santander Department, Colombia. For the first time, the genital structure of this genus is illustrated. A key to the identification of the males of Neocranaus and some considerations about the reproductive biology of N. albiconspersus and N. pectinitibialis are presented.
The Andean genus Priscula Simon, 1893 includes the largest Neotropical pholcid spiders, but due to their mostly cryptic lifestyle they remain poorly collected and poorly studied. Many species available in collections remain undescribed and nothing has been published about the phylogeny and the biology of the genus. Here, we deal with a recent collection of Priscula spiders from Ecuador, the country of origin of the type species, P. gularis Simon, 1893. We describe eight new species, collected at 17 localities at altitudes from 640–3160 m, all based on males and females: P. azuay sp. nov., P. llaviucu sp. nov., P. espejoi sp. nov., P. esmeraldas sp. nov., P. chapintza sp. nov., P. pastaza sp. nov., P. bonita sp. nov., and P. lumbaqui sp. nov. We use a sample of approximately 26 species-level taxa, mostly from Ecuador and Venezuela, to propose a first hypothesis about relationships within the genus. Our data (mainly CO1) suggest the existence of five species groups, three of which are represented in Ecuador. The cave-dwelling P. pastaza sp. nov. is only slightly troglomorphic (paler than usual; anterior median eyes strongly reduced or lost) but differs dramatically from forest-dwelling congeners in its biology: it hangs fully exposed in its web during the day; it produces egg sacs with only 6–7 eggs (average in 15 other species: 42 eggs); and it produces the largest eggs relative to body size of all studied species.
Nocturnal multi-species roosts of Cicindelidae (Coleoptera) in a Neotropical lowland rainforest
(2021)
Tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) are frequent predators on the forest floor of the Amazon rainforest. We report on five diurnal sympatric tiger beetle species belonging to the genera Odontocheila Laporte de Castelnau and Poecilochila Rivalier in a terra firme rainforest in South Venezuela. We observed adult beetles for a full year and monitored their nocturnal roosts along two forest paths during the rainy season in 1998. We found up to four species communally roosting on low vegetation along the paths during the night. Multi-species roosts were more often observed than conspecific communal roosts. Although the individual composition of the nocturnal roosts changed frequently, distinct plants were used for several days to weeks. The most individual-rich roosts comprised 10 or 11 adult tiger beetles roosting on one leaf. Observed nocturnal roosts were dominated by O. angulipenis W. Horn and O. margineguttata (Dejean). Most mixed roosts included O. confusa (Dejean), O. angulipenis and O. margineguttata. Low abundances and size differences possibly facilitate the coexistence of these five tiger beetle species. The advantage of communal roosting during the rainy season is probably the reinforcement of their chemical defense.
We present a comprehensive revision of the pholcid spider collection of M.A. González-Sponga, who between 1998 and 2011 described 22 new genera and 51 new species of Pholcidae from Venezuela. In addition, we treat the pholcid material collected during three expeditions to Venezuela conducted between 2002 and 2020. Of González-Sponga’s pholcid taxa we recognize three genera and 24 species as valid. We describe 43 new species (all from males and females) in one new and 13 previously described genera; four genera are newly recorded for Venezuela. We describe the previously unknown females of 15 species, present new records for 46 previously described species, synonymize one genus and one species, and correct numerous minor errors in previous publications on Venezuelan pholcids. At the generic level, the Venezuelan pholcid fauna now appears fairly well known, but available data on distribution and endemism suggest that many species remain undiscovered and undescribed. Despite the obvious gaps, our data are congruent with previous studies on other taxa that have the highest levels of endemism in the Venezuelan Andes, the Coastal Ranges, and the Guyana Highlands. The Falcón Region in particular shows a complex mosaic of biogeographic relationships with other regions. We provide new biological data on numerous species. We document the first cases of evolutionary microhabitat shifts in the genera Mecolaesthus Simon, 1893 and Priscula Simon, 1893. We document several cases of close congeners sharing localities, usually in slightly to conspicuously different microhabitats, sometimes apparently in identical microhabitats. We document several cases of color polymorphism, mostly intersexual, in Metagonia conica (Simon, 1893) both intersexual and among males. We document further cases of two rare phenomena in Pholcidae: use of specific non-silken structures for retreats (in Pisaboa Huber, 2000) and egg parasitism (in Priscula).
With an incident in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, USA, Scolopendra heros Girard (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae) becomes the third centipede species known to prey on bats; S. gigantea Linnaeus and S. viridicornis Newport have been so documented in Venezuela and Brazil, respectively. The Texas predation was interrupted by the predator/prey pair’s falling around 15–20 m from the canyon wall and, perhaps also, by human presence where they landed. The centipede uncoiled and retreated to shelter under a nearby rock and, after initial immobilization, so did the bat.
Diese Woche steht nicht im Zeichen des #varoufake – schlicht und einfach weil es wichtigere Dinge gibt als den deutschen Michel mit Schaum vorm Mund. Stattdessen haben wir Debatten über Konfliktstudien und ihre Kontrollmöglichkeiten, Neues zu Venezuela, Postkoloniale Betrachtungen, Infos zu PPP-Projekten und einen weiteren ISA-Recap für Euch gesammelt. Und auch #blockupy darf nicht fehlen. Viel Spaß!
The white coconut scale, Parlagena bennetti Williams, 1969 (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) is reported for the fi rst time on New Zealand fl ax, Phormium tenax J.R. Forst. & G. Forst. (Xanthorrhoeaceae), coconut, Cocos nucifera L., Manila palm, Veitchia merrillii (Becc.) H.E. Moore, oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacq. and an oil palm hybrid OxG: E. oleifera x E. guineensis (Arecaceae) in continental Colombia, and on coconut from Venezuela. Previously, P. bennetti was known only on the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and San Andres, causing serious damage to coconut, its only known host until now. A brief characterization of P. bennetti and an updated list of 23 species of scale insects of the family Diaspididae reported worldwide on Elaeis spp. is provided.
Wie sind die weltweiten Proteste in ein größeres Bild einzuordnen und was genau passiert eigentlich in Venezuela? Antworten auf diese Fragen, Links zum Staat ohne Staatlichkeit in Somaliland, ein Video zum „Cyberwar“ und etwas zu politischer Gewalt im (US-) Fernsehen gibt es in unserer neuen Netzschau.
Past concepts and synonymies of Anadenobolus monilicornis (Porat, 1876) (Spirobolida: Rhinocricidae), including the implied synonymy of Rhinocricus ectus Chamberlin, 1920, are consolidated into a formal account with the fi rst illustrations of the holotype. Prior to 1492, A. monilicornis was probably indigenous to an unknown number of southern Antillean islands, but through modern commerce, man has introduced it to Florida, Bermuda, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica, and probably repeatedly (re)introduced conspecifi c material to all the Lesser Antilles, resulting in subcontinuous gene pool mixing and reticulate evolution. A broad species concept is necessary to encompass the multitudinous variants, some of which have been recognized as species; only one true Caribbean species of Anadenobolus Silvestri, 1897, may exist, for which arboreus (Saussure, 1859) is the oldest name. The distribution of A. monilicornis presently extends from Bermuda and southern coastal Florida through the Greater and Lesser Antilles (excepting Cuba) to eastern coastal Venezuela and central Suriname, with outlier populations in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Tampa Bay and the eastern Floridian panhandle; excepting Barbados, the indigenous range may have extended from Hispaniola through the same area. Introductions into Manitoba, Canada, and North Carolina, USA, have not yielded viable populations. Localities are newly recorded from St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.