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Background: Harvestmen are a good taxon for biogeographic studies due to their low vagility and their dependence on environmental conditions which make most of them live in humid and shaded habitats. Current knowledge of the geographical distribution of Uruguayan opiliofauna suggests that no evident zoogeographic areas are present, mainly because of the apparent uniformity of the landscape of this country. Recent biogeographic studies indicate that Uruguay represents a biogeographical crossroad between three South American provinces, and the aim of this study is focused on determining if this fact is reflected in the distribution of the Uruguayan opiliofauna. To test this presumption, we used the species distribution model methodology. Distribution data about four harvestmen species from Uruguay and neighboring countries were analyzed. We used the maximum entropy principle to perform a distribution model for each species. Results: We recognized Acanthopachylus aculeatus and Pachyloides thorellii as two Pampasic representatives of the Uruguayan opiliofauna. The other species studied, Discocyrtus prospicuus and Metalibitia paraguayensis, reflect Mesopotamian and Paranaense influences in the Uruguayan territory. Isothermality was the climatic variable with the best contribution in the models of the four species, reflecting constrained latitudinal ranges. Conclusions: Results of the present study suggest that two roughly different opiliological areas for Uruguay can be recognized, based on climatic variables.Fil: Simó, Miguel. Universidad de la Republica; Uruguay. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural Nacional; UruguayFil: Guerrero, José Carlos. Universidad de la Republica; UruguayFil: Giuliani, Leandro. Universidad de la Republica; UruguayFil: Castellano, Ismael. Universidad de la Republica; UruguayFil: Acosta, Luis Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Cordoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecologia Animal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Catedra de Diversidad Animal I; Argentin

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Three species of the genus Allocosa Banks, 1900 from southern South America are redescribed: Allocosa alticeps (Mello-Leitão, 1944), A. brasiliensis (Petrunkevitch, 1910) and A. senex (Mello-Leitão, 1945). The female of A. senex is described for the first time and the species is revalidated. A new species, A. marindia sp. nov. from southern Uruguay and southern Brazil is described. The new species is distinguished by the flattened terminal apophysis of the male bulb and the conspicuous pointed projections on the posterior margin of the female epigynum. The species inhabits in sandy estuarine and oceanic coasts with psammophile vegetation.

Among ctenid spiders, ctenines comprise the most diverse subfamily. In this study, a new genus of Cteninae, Spinoctenus, is proposed to include the type species S. yotoco, sp. nov. Ten new species are also described: S. escalerete, S. pericos, S. eberhardi, S. spinosus, S. stephaniae, S. nambi, S. florezi, S. tequendama, S. chocoensis and S. flammigerus. Results of the parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses using morphological and behavioural characters indicate the monophyly of this genus, closely related to Phoneutria Perty, 1883 and Ctenus Walckenaer, 1805. This genus can be distinguished from the remaining Ctenidae by three unambiguous synapomorphies: embolus with folded process, tegulum with median process, and RTA curved internally close to the cymbium. A dispersal-vicariance biogeographical analysis of the genus in the Andean and Chocó regions indicates the origin of Spinoctenus in the Western and Central Andean Cordilleras. From this region, three events of dispersal occurred to the other regions (one to the Chocó and two to the Eastern Cordillera), which were subsequently followed by three events of vicariance, suggesting that dispersal and vicariance were equally important in shaping the current distribution patterns of Spinoctenus species. The discovery of this new genus containing a large number of new species in the Andean and Chocó regions highlights the current poor knowledge of the Colombian biodiversity. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A7DA044C-8A59-4FAE-8F3B-00D3D2498820

Badumna longinqua (L. Koch 1867) is a medium-sized spider native from Australia. Due to its synanthropic habitat, this spider expanded their range distribution, reaching Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Uruguay and USA. We found specimens of this species in different localities from Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Therefore, we report the first records of B. longinqua to Argentina, and discuss aspects of its distribution.