ZooKeys 727: A Review of the Madagascan Pelican Spiders of the Genera Eriauchenius O. Pickard- Cambridge, 1881 and Madagascarchaea gen. n. (Araneae, Archaeidae)

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An endemic genus of Madagascan spiders (Araneae, Archaeidae, Eriauchenius) is revised. All 20 species of Eriauchenius are described and keyed, of which 14 are new species: Eriauchenius andriamanelo sp. n., Eriauchenius andrianampoinimerina sp. n., Eriauchenius goodmani sp. n., Eriauchenius harveyi sp. n., Eriauchenius lukemacaulayi sp. n., Eriauchenius milajaneae sp. n., Eriauchenius milloti sp. n., Eriauchenius rafohy sp. n., Eriauchenius ranavalona sp. n., Eriauchenius rangita sp. n., Eriauchenius rixi sp. n., Eriauchenius sama sp. n., Eriauchenius wunderlichi sp. n., Eriauchenius zirafy sp. n.

Additionally, six species of the new genus Madagascarchaea gen. n. are described and keyed, of which four are new species: Madagascarchaea fohy sp. n., Madagascarchaea lotzi sp. n., Madagascarchaea moramora sp. n., Madagascarchaea rabesahala sp. n. Diagnostic characters for the Madagascan and African genera are described, and based on these characters and previous phylogenetic analyses the following species transfers are proposed: Eriauchenius cornutus (Lotz, 2003) to Afrarchaea; Afrarchaea fisheri (Lotz, 2003) and Afrarchaea mahariraensis (Lotz, 2003) to Eriauchenius. Finally, it is proposed that the distribution of Afrarchaea be restricted to South Africa. While several Madagascan specimens have previously been identified as Afrarchaea godfreyi (Hewitt, 1919), it is argued that these are likely misidentifications that should instead be considered Eriauchenius.

Contents

Introduction   3
Methods   4

Taxonomy   8
Archaeidae Koch & Berendt, 1854   8
Genus Eriauchenius O. P.-Cambridge, 1881   8
The “workmani group” species   15
Eriauchenius andriamanelo sp. n.   15
Eriauchenius andrianampoinimerina sp. n.   19
Eriauchenius rafohy sp. n.   22
Eriauchenius ranavalona sp. n.   25
Eriauchenius rangita sp. n.   28
Eriauchenius workmani O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1881   31
“Workmani group” spp. – unidentified specimens   38
The “bourgini group” species   39
The “enclosed embolus group”   39
Eriauchenius fisheri (Lotz, 2003), comb. n.   39
Eriauchenius goodmani sp. n.   41
Eriauchenius harveyi sp. n.   43
Eriauchenius wunderlichi sp. n.   46
The “exposed embolus group”   48
Eriauchenius bourgini (Millot, 1948)   48
Eriauchenius lukemacaulayi sp. n.   50
Eriauchenius mahariraensis (Lotz, 2003), comb. n.   53
Eriauchenius milajaneae sp. n.   55
Eriauchenius milloti sp. n.   57
Eriauchenius pauliani (Legendre, 1970)   59
Eriauchenius ratsirarsoni (Lotz, 2003)   61
Eriauchenius rixi sp. n.   64
Eriauchenius sama sp. n.   66
Eriauchenius zirafy sp. n.   68
Genus Madagascarchaea, gen. n.   71
“Vadoni group” new species and a redescription of M. legendrei   73
Madagascarchaea fohy sp. n.   73
Madagascarchaea legendrei (Platnick, 1991), comb. n.   76
Madagascarchaea rabesahala sp. n.   79
The new ‘pointy-head’ “vadoni group” species and a redescription of M. jeanneli   81
Madagascarchaea jeanneli (Millot, 1948), comb. n.   81
Madagascarchaea lotzi sp. n.   84
Madagascarchaea moramora sp. n.   87
Genus Afrarchaea Forster & Platnick, 1984   91

Acknowledgements   94
References   94

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