A first baseline for the salticid (Araneae: Salticidae) fauna of Paraguay, with thirty-two new records and description of a new species from Paraguay and Argentina

Grismadox gen. nov., a new Neotropical genus of ant-resembling spiders (Araneae, Corinnidae, Castianeirinae), including the description of two new species from Bolivia and Paraguay

“…The discovery of numerous new species in this habitat in Paraguay and Bolivia illustrates a strong negative sampling bias against Neotropical savannah-like habitats. Indeed, even limited sampling such as in the short pitfall trapping project in the Ñeembucú wetland complex (see : Pett 2019;Pett and Wyer 2020;Pett 2021a, b;Pett et al 2021) or manual sampling in a Bolivian savanna mosaic (Perger and Dupérré 2021;Perger and Rubio 2021), yielded numerous taxonomic novelties, including three of the species presented here, among other undescribed taxa. It is also of note that two sympatric Grismadox exist in the same site in the NWC and at the present time their ecological separation is based on relatively little data but appears to correspond to a forest/grassland edge specialist (G. mboitui comb.…”

“…nov. (type species), Grismadox mazaxoides (Perger & Duperré, 2021) comb. nov. and Grismadox mboitui (Pett, 2021) Diagnosis. Separated from congeners by: embolus that coils four times (vs. three, four-and-a-half, or five) (Figs 10, 11); embolic apex translucent and relatively blunt (vs. sharp and sclerotized); obvious constriction between ST I and ST II (vs. absent or moderate) (Figs 6, 7); carapace color dark brown to black (with greyish tinge, orangish or yellowish in congeners) (Figs 2, 3); coxae II and III light in both sexes (II-IV light in females of G. mazaxoides comb.…”

“…Myrmecotypus jasmineae Leister & Miller, 2014a is the only species of the genus with an embolus with several coils (female not known) (cf. Reiskind 1969;Leister and Miller 2014a;Pett 2021), but it lacks distinct RTAs and an elongate abdomen. Grismadox gen. nov. have elongate abdomens and are ground-dwelling, in contrast with the subglobose abdomens and arboreal habits as in Myrmecotypus.…”

“…Other genera with a recurved PER and elongate abdomens include the misplaced Afrotropical species of Corinnomma Karsch, 1880 (Haddad 2006;Raven 2015), but Grismadox gen. nov. has a strongly recurved PER vs. slight, and dRTA and vRTA on the male palpal tibia (vs. absent in those Corinnomma spp.). The monotypic Solomon Islands endemic Melanesotypus Raven, 2015 shares with (Pett, 2021); triangle = G. baueri sp. nov.; square = G. mazaxoides (Perger & Dupérré, 2021); df = dry forest; type locality of G. mazaxoides is considered to be situated in Gran Chaco by Olson et al (2001) and Chiquitano dry forest by Navarro and Ferreira (2007).…”

“…Myrmecotypus mboitui (Pett, 2021) Diagnosis. Separated from congeners by: pedipalp with four and a half coils (vs. three, four or five); RTAs in ventral view much larger than that of other species; constriction between ST I and ST II moderate (vs. absent or distinct); COs slightly anterolateral to ST (vs. far anterior); carapace orangish (vs. dark brown to black, greyish or yellowish).…”