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| A Micropholcus dhahran Huber, sp. nov., male from ‘Asir, W of Dhahran Al Janub; B M. harajah Huber, sp. nov., female with egg-sac from ‘Asir, SE of Harajah; C, D M. alfara Huber, sp. nov., male and female with egg-sac from ‘Asir, S of Al Fara; E M. abha Huber, sp. nov., male from ‘Asir, N of Abha; F M. tanomah Huber, sp. nov., male from ‘Asir, NW of Tanomah; G M. bashayer Huber, sp. nov., female with egg-sac from ‘Asir, NW of Al Bashayer; H M. maysaan Huber, sp. nov., male from Mecca, NW of Maysaan. in Huber & Meng, 2024. Photographs Bernhard A. Huber. |
Abstract
Micropholcus Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen, 1987 is one of only two Pholcidae genera known to occur both in the Old and New Worlds. However, there are major morphological and ecological differences among geographically separate groups of species, and it was mainly molecular data that have resulted in our current view of uniting all these species into a single genus. In the Old World, only four species have previously been described. Here, current knowledge about Old World Micropholcus is reviewed, redescribing three of the four previously known species, and describing twelve new species, originating from Saudi Arabia (M. dhahran Huber, sp. nov., M. harajah Huber, sp. nov., M. alfara Huber, sp. nov., M. abha Huber, sp. nov., M. tanomah Huber, sp. nov., M. bashayer Huber, sp. nov., M. maysaan Huber, sp. nov.), Oman (M. darbat Huber, sp. nov., M. shaat Huber, sp. nov.), Morocco (M. ghar Huber, sp. nov., M. khenifra Huber, Lecigne & Lips, sp. nov.), and the Philippines (M. bukidnon Huber, sp. nov.). We provide an exploratory species delimitation analysis based on CO1 barcodes, extensive SEM data, and first records of Acroceridae (Diptera) larvae in Pholcidae, extracted from book lungs.
Key words: CO1 barcode, genetic distances, Morocco, Oman, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, species delimitation, taxonomy
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| Micropholcus Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen; live specimens from Saudi Arabia A M. dhahran Huber, sp. nov., male from ‘Asir, W of Dhahran Al Janub; B M. harajah Huber, sp. nov., female with egg-sac from ‘Asir, SE of Harajah; C, D M. alfara Huber, sp. nov., male and female with egg-sac from ‘Asir, S of Al Fara; E M. abha Huber, sp. nov., male from ‘Asir, N of Abha; F M. tanomah Huber, sp. nov., male from ‘Asir, NW of Tanomah; G M. bashayer Huber, sp. nov., female with egg-sac from ‘Asir, NW of Al Bashayer; H M. maysaan Huber, sp. nov., male from Mecca, NW of Maysaan. Photographs BAH. |
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| Micropholcus Deeleman-Reinhold & Prinsen; live specimens from Oman, Morocco, and the Philippines A, B M. darbat Huber, sp. nov., male and female with egg-sac from Oman, Dhofar, near Qairoon Hairitti C M. shaat Huber, sp. nov., male from Oman, Dhofar, Shaat sinkhole D, E M. agadir (Huber), male and female with egg-sac from Morocco, Souss-Massa, Paradise Valley F M. ghar Huber, sp. nov., male from Morocco, Fès-Meknès, Kef El Ghar G M. khenifra Huber, Lecigne & Lips, sp. nov., male from Morocco, Béni Mellal-Khénifra, near Sidi Ben Daoud H M. bukidnon Huber, sp. nov., male from Philippines, Mindanao, Blue Water Cave. Photographs BAH. |
Bernhard A. Huber and Guanliang Meng. 2024. Old World Micropholcus spiders, with first records of acrocerid parasitoids in Pholcidae (Araneae). ZooKeys. 1213: 95-182. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1213.133178 [26 Sep 2024]
