The genus Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, 1832, the so-called brown or violin spiders, currently includes 107 species distributed in the subtropical-areas and tropics of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and America (World Spider Catalog 2015). Species of this genus may live in both natural habitats (under rocks, trunks, inside tree holes and caves) and inside houses (Gertsch 1967; Bertani et al. 2010). Loxosceles is a group of medical importance in several regions of the world, due to the large number of cases of envenomation registered annually (Swanson & Vetter 2006; Vetter 2008; Vetter et al. 2009). Gertsch (1967, 1983) conducted the most comprehensive revisions for Loxosceles in America, and proposed several species groups. More recently, the genus has been the focus of several studies including taxonomic revisions, phylogenetic analyses and biogeography (Duncan et al. 2010; Bertani et al. 2010; Gonçalves-de-Andrade et al. 2012; Lotz 2012; Sánchez-Ruiz & Brescovit 2013; Planas & Ribera 2014; Binford et al. 2008).
Here we examine the species of the Selenops isopodus species group: S. isopodus Mello-Leitão, 1941, S. arikok Crews, 2011, and S. curazao Alayón, 2001. We describe the female and male of S. bullerengue sp. nov. from Colombia and synonymize S. marilus Corronca, 1998a with S. isopodus, providing diagnoses and complete descriptions of both sexes of S. isopodus. Detailed images and a key to species in the group are provided. The distribution of all selenopid species in Colombia is reviewed using published records, museum specimens, and citizen science data from inaturalist.org.
The ancient, enigmatic whip spider family Paracharontidae Weygoldt, 1996, representing the basalmost lineage of the arachnid order Amblypygi Thorell, 1883, is revised. The monotypic West African genus Paracharon Hansen, 1921, from Guinea Bissau, is redescribed, based on a reexamination and reinterpretation of the newly designated lectotype. A new troglobitic whip spider, Jorottui ipuanai, gen. et sp. nov., is described from a cave system in the upper basin of the Camarones River in the La Guajira Department of northeastern Colombia. This new taxon is the second extant representative of Paracharontidae and the first outside Africa. It is unambiguously assigned to the family based on several characters shared with Paracharon caecus Hansen, 1921, notably a projection of the anterior carapace margin, the tritosternum not projecting anteriorly, similar pedipalp spination, a reduced number of trichobothria on the tibia of leg IV, and cushionlike female gonopods. A detailed examination confirmed the absence of ocelli in both genera and the presence of three (Paracharon) vs. four (Jorottui, gen. nov.) prolateral teeth on the basal segment of the chelicera, the dorsalmost tooth bicuspid in both genera. The male gonopods of Paracharontidae are described for the first time. Paracharonopsis cambayensis Engel and Grimaldi, 2014, is removed from Paracharontidae and placed incertae sedis in Euamblypygi Weygoldt, 1996; amended, comparative diagnoses are presented for AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 4000 Paracharontidae and Paracharon; and previous interpretations of various diagnostic characters for Paracharontidae are discussed.
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