A first look at the phylogeny of the Myrmarachninae, with rediscovery and redescription of the type species of Myrmarachne (Araneae: Salticidae)

Abstract

Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839, type species of the genus Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839, is rediscovered and redescribed, and a neotype is here designated. Five new synonyms of M. melanocephala are proposed: M. contracta (Karsch, 1880) [lectotype here designated], M. providens (Peckham & Peckham, 1892), M. ramosa Badcock, 1918, M. albicrurata Badcock, 1918, and M. lateralis Badcock, 1918. Myrmarachne melanocephala is shown to be a widespread species in southern Asia that mimics the ant Tetraponera rufonigra (Jerdon). Myrmarachne christae (Prószyński, 2001) and Myrmarachne galianoae (Prószyński, 2001) are transferred from Damoetas, new combinations. The latter results in a homonym with Myrmarachne galianoae Cutler, 1981: we rename the species Myrmarachne mariaelenae Edwards & Benjamin, replacement name. Further characterization of the species groups of Myrmarachne is presented, related genera are discussed, and a preliminary phylogeny of the Myrmarachninae is given.

Taxonomic notes on some ant-mimicking jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from India

“…DISTRIBUTION. Pakistan to Indonesia [Edwards, Benjamin, 2009;WSC, 2016]; the records from India are shown in Map 1.…”

Spider-Ant Associations: An Updated Review of Myrmecomorphy, Myrmecophily, and Myrmecophagy in Spiders

“…In several of these studies, the predators used are naïve and have never encountered ants before, demonstrating that aversion to ants, at least in some arthropod predators, is innate rather than learned [27,28,30]. In order for myrmecomorphy to provide an adaptive advantage to the mimics, the mimics must live in close proximity to the models [33][34][35][36][37][38]. In addition, mimics should be rarer than models [15,34,36,39,40].…”

New species of ant‐mimicking jumping spiders of the genus Myrmarachne MacLeay, 1839 (Araneae: Salticidae) from north Queensland, Australia

“…(1996), Wesolowska and Salm (2002) and Edmunds and Proszynski (2003) have also contributed to more recent descriptions of new Myrmarachne species. In addition, Edwards and Benjamin (2009) redescribed the type species of Myrmarachne ( Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay 1839).…”