TEN PAPERS ON FOSSIL BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) Joerg Wunderlich (ed.) AND EXTANT SPIDERS (2017) 10 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) Joerg Wunderlich (ed.) BEITR. ARANEOL., Joerg Wunderlich (ed.) During about 400 million years probably several million species of spiders inhabited all continents of the earth (probably more than 100 000 species live today, ca. 46 000 species have already been described). This volume focuses on the ancient spider fauna which existed in the Burmese amber forest (today: Myanmar) 1 million years ago in the Mid Cretaceous. The existence of TEN PAPERS ON FOSSIL questionable “missing links” of higher spider taxa and the reasons for numerous extinctions – even of numerous families – are discussed. AND EXTANT SPIDERS The remaining papers treat few extant spiders as well as spiders in Ethiopian and Baltic amber. Furthermore a pictured key to Mesozoic and extant arachnid orders is provided. Orders of this book directly to the author: Other books by the same E-mail: [email protected] see the website: www.joergwunderlich.de Publishing House Joerg Wunderlich Oberer Haeuselbergweg 24 69493 Hirschberg TEN PAPERS ON FOSSIL ON FOSSIL TEN PAPERS Germany SPIDERS AND EXTANT ISBN 978-3-931473-16-7 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) BEITRÄGE ZUR ARANEOLOGIE, 10 (2017) ISBN 978-3-931473-16-7 TEN PAPERS ON FOSSIL AND EXTANT SPIDERS (ARANEAE) JOERG WUNDERLICH (ed.) 1 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) The photos on the book cover show: AT THE TOP LEFT: Eresus sp., Eresidae, extant, Europe, male in alcohol, body length 9 mm. Note the striking red opisthosomal “warning colour” which is restricted to the male sex. (See photo 131). AT THE TOP RIGHT: Adonea algarvensis n. sp., Eresidae, extant, Europe (Portugal), two males in alcohol, body length 5 and 7 mm. Note the quite variable dorsal pattern of the opisthosoma. (See photo 130). AT THE BOTTOM LEFT: Attack of a spider (family Oonopidae) by a mite (family Bdel- lidae) in 100 million years old Burmese amber: ventral aspect of the spider (at the left), dorsal aspect of the mite. In this quite remarkable “frozen behaviour” the mite is sucking out the tiny female spider which is only 0.8 mm long. Note the “snout, sucking tube” (proboscis) of the mite in the centre of the photo which kindly was taken by MAX KOB- BERT. See the paper “Frozen behaviour ...” and the photo no. 3 in this volume. AT THE BOTTOM RIGHT: Dorsal aspect of the hairy arachnid Hirsutisoma sp. indet. of the unusual order Ricinulei in Mid Cretaceous Burmese amber, male, body length 4 mm. (See photo 23). 2 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) Personal notes by a biologist (nobody is nothing but a biologist): People who know humans love spiders. My favourite fossil spiders are the fascinating members of the diverse extinct family Lag- onomegopidae, see p. 190–202 and the photos 97–103. Born shortly after the discovery of the nuclear fission in 1938 in Berlin and born in this city, too, I must note that less than 80 years later 450 nuclear power stations worldwide produce more and more deadly radioactivity and material for today’s already ten thousands of atomic bombs. Our offsprings of this absurd world will cure us for our carelessness but there is no way to call to account dead persons .... After publishing on a diverse peculiar group of animals – extant and fossil spiders and their kin – for half a century, and observing the numerous CHANGES IN THE WORLD DURING A SINGLE LIFE SPAN – of actually 77 years – I must note: We are living in a “crazy world” (ASTRID LINDGREN) (see also the appendix p. 355): – the number of humans on earth increased from two to more than seven billions, – the number of atomic weapons increased from zero to probably ten thousand, – the number of atomic power stations increased from zero to more than 300; remains will burden an unknown number of human generations in the future, – ca. 30 000 children die every day, many by starvation, – the actual number of wars one can be summed up to a real Third World War, – according to CHOMSKY & VLTCHEK (2014): “Der Terrorismus der westlichen Welt” hun- dreds of millions of people were murdered by western wars or interventions after the Second World War; hundreds of millions of persons are migrants or refugees from wars or are actually driven away from their land by powerful corporations, – the incredible number of modern wage slaves is still increasing, – the destruction of landscape, decreasing of natural forests, loss of drinking water and extinction of species – hundreds every day – is going on and is still increasing, – most “mainstream media” exert censorship inconspicuously by holding back information, presenting it in a falsified way or at a hidden place. What about “positive thinking”? – Never before has the number of billionaires been as large as today, – never before people in the Northern Hemisphere were so well-fed (fat), and have been able to buy so many (superfluous) articles, – never before could so many people be sure to be well-observed (in an ORWELLian man- ner), and could tell their friends all details of their last meal, – the Internet offers quite new possibilities: facts and publications and news (partly filtered or useless) as well as “selfies”,... – without difficulty OBAMA orders killing persons thousands of kilometers away without a time consuming court procedure (he is supported by “willing Germans” in Ramstein). What about the future looking back at a scientific work of several decades? What will persist? Will we know all species on earth – but most of them only in alcohol and by genes? Have biologists/entomologists really fought strongly enough for saving the endan- gered environment? 3 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) ISBN 978-3-931473-16-7 TEN PAPERS ON FOSSIL AND EXTANT SPIDERS (ARANEAE) JOERG WUNDERLICH (ed.) Editor and author of the papers of this volume: Joerg Wunderlich © Publishing House: Joerg Wunderlich, 69493 Hirschberg, Germany Print: Baier Digitaldruck GmbH, Heidelberg Orders for this volume: Publishing House Joerg Wunderlich Oberer Haeuselbergweg 24 69493 Hirschberg Germany E-Mail: [email protected] Web site (including other books by JW): www.joergwunderlich.de 4 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Like the last four volumes of Beitr. Araneol. the present – and probably final – one mainly contains papers on fossil spiders (Araneae) and few other arachnids (Acari and Ricinulei). Fascinated by the diversity, ecology and evolution of this “megaorder” of arthropods (as well as the behaviour of certain species and island biology) I spent incredibly much time on the investigation of these animals during a period of half a century, and a HUGE amount of personal funds, mainly for buying fossils (up to several thousand Euros for certain extraordinary inclusions), for collecting, and for publishing books on the material. Thanks to the help of numerous collectors I got many new excit- ing findings, results and insights of vanished worlds – a splendid kind of satisfaction –, and I enjoyed inspiring discussions with colleagues on fossil arachnids. It is a great pity – and hard to understand – that during the last two centuries only very few arachnolo- gists (e. g. A. MENGE and A. PETRUNKEVITCH) investigated fossil spiders more closely, and still only a very small and inadequate number of students work on these animals worldwide, although not rarely are spiders in amber excellently preserved and present a wide field of new discoveries! Reconstruction of a juvenile fossil meso- thele spider (the first fossil report of the „segmented spiders“ in amber (suborder Mesothelae, family Cretaceothelidae: Cre- taceothele lata n. gen. n. sp.) in 100 million years old Burmese amber from Myanmar, body length 1.6 mm, dorsal aspect. The adult spider would probably have been more than two cms long. Note the dorsal opisthosomal plates of this ancient spider in which a distinct opisthosomal segmen- tation has been retained in contrast to all „advanced“ spiders. Therefore these pecu- liar spiders may be called „living fossils“; they are restricted to the tropics today. See p. 87 f in this volume. 5 BEITR. ARANEOL., 10 (2017) CONTENTS page Personal notes by a biologist; Introductory remarks ........................3, 5 WUNDERLICH, J.: A new Thanatus C. L. KOCH 1837 (Araneae: Philodromidae) from Africa (Nigeria). 7 WUNDERLICH, J.: Frozen behaviour: The oldest known attack of a fossil spider by a predatory mite in Mid Cretaceous Burmese amber (Araneae: Oonopidae and Acari: Bdellidae) ...............................................10 WUNDERLICH, J: New fossil spiders of three families in Eocene Baltic and Bitter- feld amber, with notes on phylogeny and relationships of the Zoropsidae (Araneae: Anapidae, Liocranidae, Spatiatoridae and Zoropsidae). .14 WUNDERLICH, J.: New extinct taxa of the arachnid order Ricinulei, based on new taxa preserved in Mid Cretaceous Burmese amber. 48 WUNDERLICH, J.: New and rare fossil spiders (Araneae) in Mid Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma), including the description of extinct families of the suborders Mesothelae and Opisthothelae, as well as notes on the taxonomy, the evolution and the biogeography of the Mesothelae ............72 WUNDERLICH, J.: Description of a derived fossil spider taxon in Ethiopian amber (Araneae: Salticidae) ........................................280 WUNDERLICH, J.: Palaeobiogeography and phylogenomics – fossil proofs contra results from molecular genetic: the case of segmented spiders (Araneae: Mesothelae) ............................................285 WUNDERLICH, J.: Pictured key to the identification of Mesozoic to extant orders of the Arachnida ...........................................289 WUNDERLICH, J.: Descriptions, notes and synonyms of some mainly mediter- ranean and Macaronesian spiders (Araneae) of various families ............298 WUNDERLICH, J.: A new extant spider genus from Myanmar (Burma) (Araneae: Dictynidae: Dictyninae) ....................................327 WUNDERLICH, J.: Corrections and additional remarks concerning vol. 9 of the Beitr. Araneol. (2015): Mesozoic Spiders by J. Wunderlich .................331 The photos. 333 Appendix by J. WUNDERLICH: Wanted – notes on a crazy world; a warrent circular .................................................355 6 BEITR.