Abstract
The cryptic arboreal castianeirine genus Echinax Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 (Araneae: Corinnidae), previously known only from South-East Asia, is recorded from the Afrotropical Region for the first time. The female of Copa longespina Simon, 1909 is redescribed, the male is described for the first time, and the species is transferred to Echinax as E. longespina (Simon, 1909) comb. nov. It occurs widely throughout equatorial Africa, from Kenya and Tanzania in the east to Liberia in the west. Six new species are described from both sexes: E. clara sp. nov. from D.R. Congo and Ghana, E. hesperis sp. nov. from Ivory Coast, E. natalensis sp. nov. and E. similis sp. nov. from South Africa, E. scharffi sp. nov. from Tanzania, and E. spatulata sp. nov., widespread across tropical Africa. The available ecological data indicates that all seven species are mainly arboreal and represent a prominent component of corinnid assemblage collected by canopy fogging, especially in forests.
References
Agnarsson, I., Coddington, J.A. & May-Collado, L.J. [2007] (2008) Elongated pedicillate setae: a putative sensory system and synapomorphy of spiders. Journal of Arachnology, 35, 411–426.
Bosselaers, J. & Jocqué, R. (2000) Studies in Corinnidae: transfer of four genera and descriptions of the female of Lessertina mutica Lawrence 1942. Tropical Zoology, 13, 305–325.
Deeleman-Reinhold, C.L. (1995) New or little known non-antmimicking spiders of the subfamily Castianeirinae from southeast Asia (Arachnida: Araneae: Clubionidae). Beiträge zur Araneologie, 4, 43–54.
Deeleman-Reinhold, C.L. (2001) Forest spiders of South East Asia: with a revision of the sac and ground spiders (Araneae: Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Liocranidae, Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae and Trochanterriidae [sic]). Brill, Leiden, 591 pp.
Haddad, C.R. (2004) A revision of the African spider genus Graptartia Simon, 1896 (Araneae: Corinnidae). African Entomology, 12, 71–81.
Haddad, C.R. (2006) A new species of Corinnomma (Araneae: Corinnidae) from southern and eastern Africa, with taxonomic notes on C. olivaceum and C. semiglabrum. African Invertebrates, 47, 71–83.
Haddad, C.R. & Bosselaers, J. (2010) A revision of the genus Medmassa Simon, 1887 (Araneae: Corinnidae) in the Afrotropical Region. Zootaxa, 2361, 1–12.
Marusik, Y.M., Zheng, G. & Li, S. (2008) First description of the female of Echinax panache Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001 (Aranei: Corinnidae: Castianeirinae). Arthropoda Selecta, 17, 165–168.
Platnick, N.I. (2011) The World Spider Catalog, Version 12.0, American Museum of Natural History, New York. Available from: http://research.amnh.org/entomology/ spiders/catalog/ (last accessed 30 May 2011).
Simon, E. (1909) Arachnides recueillis par L. Fea sur la côte occidentale d'Afrique. 2e partie. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, 44, 335–449.
Yang, J.Y., Song, D.X. & Zhu, M.S. (2004) On the newly recorded genus Echinax from China (Araneae: Corinnidae), with description of a new species. Journal of the Agricultural University of Hubei, 27, 66–70.