Manual de bioestate

2004. The Journal of Arachnology 32:418–431

A REVIEW OF THE SPIDER GENUS THIODINA (ARANEAE, SALTICIDAE) IN THE UNITED STATES
David B. Richman: Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003 USA Richard S. Vetter: Department of Entomology, University of California—Riverside, Riverside, California 92521 USA; and BiologyDivision, San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands, California 92374 USA
ABSTRACT. The jumping spider genus Thiodina in the United States is reviewed here and the common western species, T. hespera new species, is formally described for the first time. We present a species key for specimens north of Mexico. Keywords: Taxonomy, new species, North America

The jumping spider genusThiodina is common throughout much of the southern United States extending south into Argentina. Eighteen species are known (Platnick 2003). Hentz (1846) described two species from the eastern United States, T. sylvana and T. puerpera, the type specimens of which no longer exist. At least one undescribed species is known from the western United States. The purpose of the current work is todescribe this western species, to review the other two described species, and to provide a key to differentiate them. Wolff (1985) produced a full revision of the North American (including Mexican) species of Thiodina. Unfortunately, that work was never published and the western species was referred to only as Thiodina new species A. Because this lack of a proper description and name is not likely tochange, we felt that it was necessary to rectify this situation. We have not included the tropical American fauna because the species in Mexico and Central and South America require further study and would need a much broader effort. There are also fewer specimens available and the inter- and intraspecific genitalic differences are not always sufficiently diagnostic to allow for a description of newspecies without a large number of specimens for comparison. Future study should include the Central and South American species as well, as some of these may range into southern Mexico. Wolff (1985) did study the fauna of Mexico through

Central America and found no described species from this area matching the new species we describe here. He did include two undescribed species (Thiodina sp. Band sp. C) from Panama, and Oaxaca, respectively, which are not the species in question. Pires de Melo Nogueira (2003) recently revised the species of Thiodina from Brazil. Comparison of our species with the illustrations of seven species included in her thesis (including one undescribed) produced no close matches. Four other species were eliminated because three are probable synonyms of otherspecies covered and the other is represented by an immature female type. Two other species (T. sylvana and T. puerpera) are included in the current work. Thiodina crucifera (Cambridge 1901) does not appear to be the same, based on the epigynal illustration. Thus 13 of the 18 described species and three undescribed species have been eliminated from consideration. The remaining 5 species are T. branicki(Taczanowski) from northern South America, T. cockerelli (Peckham & Peckham) from Hispaniola and Jamaica, T. inerma Bryant from Cuba, the type species T. nicoleti Roewer from Chile, and T. peckhami (Bryant) from Cuba. As none of these were found by Wolff (1985), we are confident that the new species described in the current work has never been described before. METHODS In the followingdescriptions, city/town and county records are provided only for T. hes-

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RICHMAN & VETTER—THIODINA IN UNITED STATES

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Figure 1.—Thiodina sp., left tibia I, ventral view, showing two pairs of bulbous spines (bs). Photograph by R. Vetter.

pera. The other species records for specimens we have examined are listed by counties within the United States. Detailed foreign records for T. sylvana...