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Issue: Vol. 1635 No. 1: 12 Nov. 2007
Type: Article
Published: 2007-11-12
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1635.1.2
Page range: 23–43
Abstract views: 43
PDF downloaded: 1

Two new genera of small, six-eyed pholcid spiders from West Africa, and first record of Spermophorides for mainland Africa (Araneae: Pholcidae)

Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Araneae Pholcidae West Africa taxonomy cladistic analysis relict Nyikoa Anansus Spermophorides

Abstract

Two new genera of West African pholcid spiders are described: Nyikoa n. gen., with the widely distributed N. limbe n. sp. (Ghana, Cameroon, Congo DR) as the single known species, and Anansus n. gen., with three species described herein (A. aowin n. sp. from Ivory Coast, A. ewe n. sp. from Ghana, A. debakkeri n. sp. from Congo DR) and a further species from Cameroon that remains undescribed. Both genera belong to the subfamily Pholcinae, and cladistic analysis of morphological characters further suggests that both represent early offshoots in pholcine spider diversification. A further species described herein (Spermophorides africana n. sp.) is the first African representative of this genus that is otherwise mainly known for its conspicuous radiation on the Canary Islands. Male and female genital characters, leg measurements, as well as ultrastructural data support the inclusion of this Tanzanian species in Spermophorides.

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