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Issue: Vol. 5005 No. 4: 28 Jul. 2021
Type: Article
Published: 2021-07-28
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5005.4.4
Page range: 538-568
Abstract views: 497
PDF downloaded: 15

From the lowlands to the highlands of Ecuador, a study of the genus Masteria (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Dipluridae) with description of seven new species

Zoological Museum Hamburg, Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Center for Taxonomy and Morphology, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany. Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.
Fundación OTONGA, Calle Rither N° 20-10 y Bolivia, Quito, Ecuador.
Nees Institute for Plant Biodiversity, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 170, 53115 Bonn, Germany. Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
Laboratorio de Entomología, Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Avenida 10 de Octubre 1076, 170143, Quito, Ecuador.
Zoological Museum, Center of Natural History, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
New species DNA-barcoding taxonomy Araneae

Abstract

Dipluridae represent a small Mygalomorphae family of South American origin, the family includes two subfamilies Diplurinae and Masteriinae although the placement of the latter in Dipluridae is still under debate. The family has a predominantly South American distribution although the genus Masteria L. Koch, 1873 presents an interesting distribution with representatives found in Fiji, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Guinea and Australia. This genus is diverse at the species level in tropical South America and the Caribbean but no species have been described from Ecuador to date. Ongoing field work as part of the BIO-GEEC Project—a consortium established by several Ecuadorian and German institutions—has resulted in the discovery of several new species from both lowlands and highland habitats in Ecuador. Herein we described seven new species of Masteria from Ecuador: M. jatunsacha n. sp. (male); M. machay n. sp. (female); M. chalupas n. sp. (male); M. papallacta n. sp. (male and female); M. pasochoa n. sp. (male and female); M. lasdamas n. sp. (male); and M. otongachi n. sp. (male). The type species of the genus, Masteria hirsuta L. Koch, 1873 from Fiji, is redescribed and re-illustrated, from the original type specimen.

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