NEW RECORDS OF THALOE ENNERY BRESCOVIT, 1993, AND THALOE LEBOULET BRESCOVIT & OLIVEIRA, 2019 (ARANEAE: ANYPHAENIDAE) FROM DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The family Anyphaenidae, commonly known as “goth spiders”, are wandering hunters that currently comprise 56 genera and 572 species (World Spider Catalog, 2020). The family is distributed worldwide, and the highest diversity occurs in the Americas.

The genus Thaloe Brescovit, 1993 comprises six described species from the Greater Antilles: T. ebano and T. remotus (Dominican Republic), T. ennery and T. leboulet (Haiti), T. maricao (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands) and T. tricuspis (Cuba) (Brescovit, 1993; Brescovit & Oliviera, 2019). During a review of the anyphaenids deposited in the Arachnological Collection of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural “Prof. Eugenio de Jesús Marcano”, 11 males of Thaloe ennery and four males of Thaloe leboulet from eight localities of Dominican Republic were identified. This note reports a new distribution range extension and presents a geographic distribution map for each species.

Known records in Haiti

According to Brescovit (1993), Thaloe ennery is only known from the type locality in Ennery, Haiti. Later, Brescovit & Oliveira (2019), described the species Thaloe leboulet based on several specimens from three localities from Haiti (Le Boulet, Mariani, and La Boule), (Fig. 1).

New records in Dominican Republic

Thaloe ennery Brescovit, 1993 (Figs. 2 A−D). MNHNSD 09.1474 (1♂): Peravia Province. Honduras, El Matadero, Baní. Loma Las Yayas (19 Q 2035422 m N 358754 m E), 350 m a.s.l. 11.VIII.2010. G. de los Santos col. MNHNSD 09.1680 (1♂): La Altagracia Province. Guaraguao, Boca de Yuma, San Rafael del Yuma, PNE. 29-31. V.1992. Sweep net. B. Farrell, K. Guerrero col. MNHNSD 09.1673 (5♂♂): La Altagracia Province. Boca de Yuma, San Rafael del Yuma, Parque Nacional del Este (18° 21’ 35” N 68° 37’ 10” W), 10 m. 26.III.2002. Canop fogging. B. Farrell, K. Guerrero col. MNHNSD 09.23 (1♂): La Romana Province. Km 5−10 Mano Juan to Catuano road, Saona Island. 25.VI.1992. Sweep net. B. Farrell, K. Guerrero col. MNHNSD 1674 (1♂): Barahona Province. Loma El Curro, Parque Nacional Sierra Martín García (19Q 285903 m E 2033448 m N), 1,379 m. 31.VII.02.VIII.2013. P. Torres, G. de los Santos col.MNHNSD 09.1677 (1♂): Barahona Province Paraíso, Los Patos (17° 57’ 32” N 71° 11’ 00” W), 30 m. 29.IX.2019. G. de los Santos, C. Marte, A. León, M. Núñez col.

MNHNSD 09.27 (1♂): Pedernales Province. La Aguita, 1 km before El Banano crossing, 250 m. Side of the road. 14.VIII.1991. Sweep net. K. Guerrero col.

Thaloe leboulet Brescovit & Oliveira, 2019 (Fig. 3 E−I) MNMNSD 09.1681 (4♂♂): Santiago Rodríguez Province. San Ignacio de Sabaneta, La Furnia de Gurabo (19Q 271202 m E 2156103 m N), 186 m. 30.V.2018. Col. G. de los Santos.

The World Spider Catalog (2020) records Thaloe ennery and T. remotus from Hispaniola and this may lead researchers to believe that these species are known from both countries, Haiti and Dominican Republic, something that is not true in most of the cases. In this sense, according to Brescovit (1993), specimens of Anyphaena remota in (Bryant, 1948) belonged to the species T. ennery (from Ennery, Haiti) and T. remotus (Dominican Republic), each known from only one country.

Finally, an increasing of the number of species of Thaloe from Dominican Republic seems highly probable, based on several morpho-species that are deposited in the MNHNSD collection.

Figure 3. E-I, Thaloe leboulet. Male. E, habitus, dorsal view; F, left palp, retrolateral view; G, left palp, ventral view; H, left palp, dorsal view; I, left palp, ventral view (arrow: base of the median apophysis).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Patricia Torres produced the geographic distribution map; Eveling Gabot, Gabriel de los Santos and Prof. Brian D. Farrell provided useful suggestions on the manuscript.

Literatura Citada