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Issue: Vol. 5383 No. 1: 8 Dec. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-12-08
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5383.1.7
Page range: 83-95
Abstract views: 273
PDF downloaded: 16

The more, the merrier: a new colonial species of the orb weaving spider genus Leucauge White, 1841 (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) from the Amazon rainforest

Departamento de Zoologia; Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Universidade de Brasília; Brasília; Brazil; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia; Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Universidade de Brasília; Brasília; Brazil
Departamento de Ecologia; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte; Natal; Brazil
Departamento de Zoologia; Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Universidade de Brasília; Brasília; Brazil
Laboratório de Coleções Zoológicas; Instituto Butantan; São Paulo; Brazil
Araneae spider Amazonia biodiversity Neotropical

Abstract

A new Leucauge species, widespread in the Amazon rainforest, is described and illustrated. Leucauge behemoth n. sp. lives in colonies, usually positioned above turbulent waters. Both males and females have a unique color pattern, especially on the abdomen, which makes this species easily identifiable. Males are distinguished from most congeners by the long hook of the cymbium and from their closest relatives by the lack of a cymbial dorsobasal process. Females of this species differ from their congeners by the presence of a rounded ventral process in the epigynum. Leucauge argyroaffins Soares & Camargo, 1948 is proposed as a junior synonym of Leucauge argyra (Walckenaer, 1841).

 

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