University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Insecta Mundi Florida December 2005 A review of described Metacyrba, the status of Parkella, and notes on Platycryptus and Balmaceda, with a comparison of the genera (Araneae: Salticidae: Marpissinae) G. B. Edwards Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Gainesville, FL Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi Part of the Entomology Commons Edwards, G. B., "A review of described Metacyrba, the status of Parkella, and notes on Platycryptus and Balmaceda, with a comparison of the genera (Araneae: Salticidae: Marpissinae)" (2005). Insecta Mundi. 72. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/72 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Insecta Mundi by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 19, No. 4, December, 2005 193 A review of described Metacyrba, the status of Parkella, and notes on Platycryptus and Balmaceda, with a comparison of the genera (Araneae: Salticidae: Marpissinae) G. B. Edwards Florida State Collection of Arthropods Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services P. O. Box 147100, Gainesville, FL 32614-7100 USA [email protected] Abstract: Parkella Chickering 1946 = Metacyrba F. O. P.-Cambridge 1901, n. syn.; Parkella venusta Chickering 1946 = Metacyrba venusta (Chickering 1946), n. comb.; Parkella fusca Chickering 1946 and Dendryphantes franganilloi Caporiacco 1955 = Metacyrba venusta (Chickering 1946), n. syn. The six valid described species of Metacyrba are diagnosed and re-illustrated to show previously unrecognized genitalic differences. Metacyrba similis Banks 1904 is resurrected as a subspecies, becoming Metacyrba taeniola similis Banks 1904, n. status. The female of Metacyrba pictipes Banks 1903 is described for the first time. Metacyrba arizonensis Barnes 1958 = Platycryptus arizonensis (Barnes 1958), n. comb., and Marpissa magna (Peckham & Peckham 1894) = Platycryptus magnus (Peckham & Peckham 1894), n. comb. Platycryptus broadwayi (Peckham & Peckham 1894) = Platycryptus magnus (Peckham & Peckham 1894), n. syn. [lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for both names]. Metacyrba nigrosecta (Mello-Leitão 1945) = Balmaceda nigrosecta Mello-Leitão 1945, comb. restored. The genera Balmaceda Peckham & Peckham 1894, Metacyrba, and Platycryptus Hill 1979 are compared morphologically among themselves and to Breda Peckham & Peckham 1894 and Fuentes Peckham & Peckham 1894. The distributions of Balmaceda picta Peckham & Peckham 1894 and Metacyrba species are updated. Marpissa melanura F.O.P.-Cambridge 1901 is resurrected; it is not a synonym of Marpissa minor F.O.P.-Cambridge 1901 nor Platycryptus californicus (Peckham & Peckham 1888). Key Words: Araneae, Salticidae, Marpissinae, Balmaceda, Breda, Fuentes, Metacyrba, Parkella, Platycryptus. Introduction dinal rows. Two of the larger species (M. undata, M. californica) were transferred to the new genus Platy- The species of Marpissinae have been little cryptus by Hill (1979). The three putative species of studied in the New World with the exception of early the taeniola group were characterized primarily by works by Peckham & Peckham (1894, 1909), and details of their color patterns and/or by their body revisions of the Nearctic fauna by Barnes (1955, proportions. The genitalia of these three species, 1958). Logunov (1999) proposed changes to the according to Barnes (1958), were indistinguishable, Nearctic Marpissa C. L. Koch 1846, but some of and he noted that they might constitute a subspecif- these changes appear questionable and are in need ic complex. of further review (to be done elsewhere, as Marpissa Chickering (1946) described the genus Parkella is not the subject of this paper). in his tome on the Salticidae of Panama. This One of the genera revised (north of Mexico) by project was a monumental undertaking, especially Barnes (1958) was Metacyrba F.O.P.-Cambridge considering that the Salticidae is the largest family 1901. The genus at the time consisted of larger, of spiders and most diverse in the tropics. Over 200 hirsute species [M. undata (De Geer 1778), M. ari- species were reported in 64 genera, of which 14 zonensis Barnes 1958, and M. californica (Peckham genera and 81 species were considered new. Unfor- & Peckham 1888)], primarily gray in color, which tunately, he had little previous experience working have a dorsal cryptic pattern resembling bark; and with salticids [his only previous work on this family a group of smaller, relatively glabrous species [M. was The Salticidae (Jumping Spiders) of Michigan taeniola (Hentz 1846), M. floridana Gertsch 1934, (Chickering 1944), hardly helpful to working on andM. punctata (Peckham & Peckham 1894)] which tropical members of the family], his understanding have a mostly black body with a simple dorsal of relationships was based on the sometimes errone- abdominal color pattern in two paramedian longitu- ous hypotheses of earlier workers, and by modern 194 Volume 19, No. 4, December, 2005, INSECTA MUNDI standards, the book is lacking in both number and habitats, and usually M. taeniola is found in mesic quality of illustrations (all pen and ink line draw- habitats, even when the habitats are adjacent. ings, some with hand stippling, with relatively few However, M. taeniola also has been found in xeric of the previously described species being illustrat- habitats, although the species do not appear to co- ed). He also had a tendency to describe the opposite occur. It is not yet clear what microhabitat prefer- sexes of one species as two separate species. Never- ences might exist, if any, to maintain this separa- theless, some of the groups he defined were fairly tion. compatible with present concepts, and the illustra- Metacyrba floridana is proportionately more tions are often sufficient at least to place species to slender than M. taeniola, and, among other differ- genus. Comparison with known relatives then can ences, has most of its leg segments bright reddish be made. orange rather than dark like eastern M. taeniola. An example of Chickerings concepts is his Marp- There is no evidence of hybridization between the issa group, in which he included the genera Breda two species. Interestingly, populations of M. taeni- Peckham & Peckham 1894, Marpissa, Menemerus ola in other parts of its range also have a variable Simon 1868, and the new genus Parkella [Barnes number of reddish leg segments, depending on the (1958) also included Menemerus in the Marpissinae, location. Unfortunately, little ecological data exists but subsequently it was shown to belong to the on most collection labels, so habitat preferences Heliophaninae (Maddison & Hedin 2003)]. Chicker- must be inferred from collection localities for most ing, although apparently aware of a Banks (1929) species. This would indicate that the western forms specimen of Balmaceda punctata Peckham & Peck- of M. taeniola and most of the other described ham 1894 from Panama (Chickering 1946: 44), trans- species live primarily in more xeric habitats includ- ferred the species to Breda rather than to Metacyrba ing desert. Species that live primarily in xeric hab- [Barnes (1958) subsequently moved Breda punctata itats have mostly yellowish to reddish legs. It is not toMetacyrba]. Then Chickering (1946: 48) described clear why this should be, but perhaps xeric habitats the genus Parkella, and included two species in the often have soils in this color range. Neither eastern following order: P. venusta (described from a male) M. taeniola nor M. venusta appear to live primarily and P. fusca (described from a female); he did in xeric habitats, and neither have mostly reddish indicate that they might belong together, but de- legs. scribed them as two species anyway. The genitalic Perhaps M. floridana was isolated and speciat- illustrations provided are similar enough to those of ed when Florida was separated from the mainland. Barnes (1958) for each sex of the allegedly wide- The xeric sandhill and scrub habitats of Florida to spread Metacyrba taeniola that I expected to find the present time provide ample evidence of this the former species were synonyms of the latter former isolation (e.g., Deyrup & Franz 1994). How- species. Upon examination of the types; however, I ever, rather than being isolated from M. taeniola, found that although they appear to be male and M. floridana might have been separated from M. female of the same species, and they do belong in punctata, based on genitalic characters such as both Metacyrba, this is a species that is similar in body having a more narrow embolus and a rounded flange form to M. taeniola but has distinctly different near the embolus tip. The present interpretation of genitalia. To Chickerings credit, his epigynal illus- a western form of M. floridana may indicate another tration of Parkella fusca does show the main differ- explanation is necessary. ence between it and M. taeniola. Another consideration is that due to possible The differences in genitalia between M. taenio- misidentification of these closely similar species, la and M. venusta prompted me to re-examine the distributions cited in the literature may in part be other species in the genus to look