[Arachnida • 2026] Kambiwa itacarambi, K. maracas, Sertana capivara, S. sagarana, ... • Ninetine Spiders in Brazilian Caatinga and Cerrado: Revision of Kambiwa and Description of Sertana gen. nov. (Araneae: Pholcidae), with analyses of predicted range shifts due to climate change

A–B. Kambiwa itacarambi Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from NW of Itacarambi.
E–F. K. coribe Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from E of São Felix do Coribe.
G–H. K. maracas Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from S of Contendas do Sincorá.
K–L. K. mucuge Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ from NE of Mucugê.

in Huber, Meng, Král, Herrera et Carvalho., 2026. 

DOI: doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2026.1054.3276 

Abstract

Among daddy long-legs spiders (Pholcidae), Ninetinae is a distinctive subfamily that comprises short-legged, fast-running spiders. Most species are small or tiny, lead reclusive lives, and are largely restricted to semiarid regions, which together has made them poorly collected and poorly known. Here, we build on focused recent collections in the Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, two of the World’s richest tropical savanna, xeric shrubland and thorn forest regions. Our focus is on the taxonomy of the genus Kambiwa Huber, 2000 that previously contained only two nominal species, each known from a single locality. Combining morphological and molecular (CO1 barcode) data, we describe six new species in Kambiwa (K. brumado Huber sp. nov.; K. coribe Huber sp. nov.; K. ibo Huber sp. nov.; K. itacarambi Huber sp. nov.; K. maracas Huber sp. nov.; K. mucuge Huber sp. nov.), redescribe the type species K. neotropica (Kraus, 1957), and synonymize the monotypic genus Pemona Huber, 2019 with Kambiwa, resulting in the new combination K. sapo (Huber, 2019) comb. nov. In addition, we describe a new genus of superficially Kambiwa-like spiders from the same geographic region: Sertana Huber gen. nov., with five new species (S. bumba Huber gen. et sp. nov.; S. capivara Huber gen. et sp. nov.; S. igapora Huber gen. et sp. nov.; S. lapa Huber gen. et sp. nov.; S. sagarana Huber gen. et sp. nov.). In line with previous efforts to explore the processes underlying the geographical distribution of Ninetinae, we also evaluate the potential effects of future climate change on the environmental niche occupied by three selected species of Kambiwa. Our results corroborate previous findings that demonstrate an altitude-mediated response to climate change. For a highland species, areas of high habitat suitability almost disappear under more severe climate change scenarios. For two species with lowland records, the areas with high habitat suitability increase significantly. Finally, we analyze the male karyotype of K. ibo which consists of 28 chromosomes including a X1X2X3Y system. All chromosomes are biarmed except for the Y chromosome. This contribution concludes a series of publications on the subfamily Ninetinae. We use this opportunity to summarize current knowledge about the subfamily, to discuss open questions and knowledge gaps, and to suggest further research topics focusing on these tiny but exceptional pholcids.

Keywords: CO1 barcodes, climate change, karyotype, niche modeling, taxonomy

Kambiwa Huber, 2000; live specimens from Brazil; all at same scale.
A–B. Kambiwa itacarambi Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from NW of Itacarambi. C–D. K. ibo Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from NE of Lagoa Grande. E–F. K. coribe Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from E of São Felix do Coribe.
G–H. K. maracas Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from S of Contendas do Sincorá. I–J. K. brumado Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ with egg sac from W of Marcolino Moura. K–L. K. mucuge Huber sp. nov., ♂♀ from NE of Mucugê.

Kambiwa Huber, 2000 spp., typical habitats; all localities are in Brazil.
A. Bahia, between Ibó and Curaçá; Kambiwa sp. aff. neotropica. B. Bahia, E of São Felix do Coribe; type locality of Kambiwa coribe Huber sp. nov. 
C. Bahia, NE of Brumado; type locality of K. brumado Huber sp. nov. D. Bahia, SW of Maracas; type locality of K. maracas Huber sp. nov.
E. Bahia, NE of Mucugê; type locality of K. mucuge Huber sp. nov. F. Minas Gerais, NW of Itacarambi; type locality of K. itacarambi Huber sp. nov.

Kambiwa brumado Huber sp. nov.

 K. coribe Huber sp. nov.

K. ibo Huber sp. nov.

K. itacarambi Huber sp. nov.

 K. maracas Huber sp. nov.

 K. mucuge Huber sp. nov.

K. sapo (Huber, 2019) comb. nov.  

 Sertana Huber gen. nov. 

S. bumba Huber gen. et sp. nov. 

 S. capivara Huber gen. et sp. nov. 

 S. igapora Huber gen. et sp. nov.

S. lapa Huber gen. et sp. nov.

 S. sagarana Huber gen. et sp. nov. 

 

Bernhard A. Huber, Guanliang Meng, Jiří Král, Ivalú M. Ávila Herrera, Leonardo S. Carvalho. 2026. Ninetine Spiders in Brazilian Caatinga and Cerrado: Revision of Kambiwa and Description of Sertana gen. nov. (Araneae, Pholcidae), with analyses of predicted range shifts due to climate change. European Journal of Taxonomy. 1054(1), 1–126. DOI: doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2026.1054.3276 [2026-05-14]

[Arachnida • 2017] Revision and Cladistic Analysis of the Southeast Asian Leaf-Dwelling Spider Genus Calapnita Simon (Araneae, Pholcidae)

Calapnita bario   Huber, 2017

 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4219.1.1 

Abstract

The Southeast Asian pholcid genus Calapnita Simon, 1892 is revised, with descriptions of 17 new species, five of them in the phyllicola group (Borneo: C. lehi, C. kubah, C. bidayuh, C. bankirai; Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java: C. anai), 12 in the vermiformis group (Borneo: C. bario, C. bariengi, C. magaseng, C. dayak, C. lawangan, C. loksado; Sulawesi: C. bugis; Philippines: C. bohol, C. dinagat, C. mae, C. nunezae, C. maragusan). New records are listed for six of the eight previously described species. A morphological cladistic analysis supports the monophyly of Calapnita and of its two previously proposed species groups and presents several new phylogenetically informative characters. New data are presented about ultrastructure and natural history (web, egg-sac, egg parasitism).

Keywords: Araneae, Calapnita, Southeast Asia, leaf dwelling, Pholcidae, taxonomy, phylogeny

Huber, Bernhard A. 2017. Revision and Cladistic Analysis of the Southeast Asian Leaf-Dwelling Spider Genus Calapnita Simon (Araneae, Pholcidae).
Zootaxa. 4219(1); 1–63.  DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4219.1.1

[Arachnida • 2016] Spider Diversity and Endemism in A South American Hotspot: 20 New Species of Carapoia (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

Carapoia patafina 

Huber, 2016

   DOI:  10.11646/zootaxa.4177.1.1 

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest along the eastern South American coast is widely recognized as a hotspot with extreme levels of diversity, endemism, and threat. A megatransect study (2003–2015) focusing on pholcid spiders and covering 48 localities across a large part of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest resulted in 132 morphospecies, of which 81% were new to science. The present paper deals with the species of Carapoia González-Sponga, 1998 collected during this campaign. The endemism level is 100%, i.e. all 26 species of Carapoia in the Atlantic Forest are not known from (and not likely to occur) anywhere else. While few species (all of them with non-overlapping ranges) occur in the most southern and northern regions, the central region (between Rio Doce and Rio Paraguaçu; largely equivalent to what has been called the ‘Bahia refuge’) is characterized by high diversity and up to five species per locality. The following species are newly described (from South to North): Carapoia voltavelha (Santa Catarina); C. macacu, C. divisa (Rio de Janeiro); C. nairae, C. capixaba, C. mirim, C. patafina (Espírito Santo); C. pau, C. gracilis, C. zumbii, C. dandarae, C. marceloi, C. viridis, C. jiboia, C. carvalhoi, C. carybei (Bahia); C. alagoas (Alagoas); C. saltinho, C. abdita (Pernambuco); C. septentrionalis (Pernambuco to Rio Grande do Norte). New records and amendments are given for most previously described Atlantic Forest species.

Keywords: Araneae, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Carapoia, taxonomy, distribution ranges, endemism

Bernhard A. Huber. 2016. Spider Diversity and Endemism in A South American Hotspot: 20 New Species of Carapoia (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Zootaxa. 4177(1); 1-69. DOI:  10.11646/zootaxa.4177.1.1

[Arachnology • 2005] Revision of the genus Spermophora Hentz in Southeast Asia and on the Pacific Islands, with descriptions of three new genera (Araneae: Pholcidae); Aetana from the Philippines, Borneo and Fiji, Suvarna from Thai-Malay peninsula & Khorata from Khorat plateau & Laos

The main aim of the present paper is to delimit ‘true’ Spermophora, i.e. the group of species most closely related to the type species S. senoculata (Dugès). Apart from the type species, only three previously described species are included in this core group (S. estebani Simon, S. paluma Huber, S. yao Huber), together with nine newly described species: S. kerinci, S. tumbang, S. dumoga, S. maros, S. deelemanae, S. palau, S. kaindi, S. luzonica, and S. sumbawa. Except for the Holarctic and anthropophilic type species, all species have limited distributions in Southeast Asia, northeastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands, where they inhabit the leaf litter layer of tropical forests as well as caves. A tight correlation is documented in Spermophora between the male cheliceral apophyses (distance between the tips) and the pockets on the female external genitalia. In addition, three new Southeast Asian genera are described that appear similar to Spermophora but do not share the synapomorphies of the genus: Aetana n. gen. with three new species from the Philippines (A. omayan), Borneo (A. kinabalu), and Fiji (A. fiji); Savarna n. gen., with one new species from southern Thailand (S. thaleban) and two species from Sumatra and Malaysia transferred from Spermophora [Savarna tessellata (Simon) n. comb., and S. baso (Roewer) n. comb.]; and Khorata n. gen., with four new species from Thailand (K. bangkok, K. schwendingeri) and Laos (K. khammouan, K. jaegeri).

Bernard A. Huber. 2005. Revision of the genus Spermophora Hentz in Southeast Asia and on the Pacific Islands, with descriptions of three new genera (Araneae: Pholcidae). Zool. Med. Leiden. 79–2 (4): 61–114. http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/record/210731

http://www.uni-bonn.de/~bhuber1/PDFs/spermophora_2005.pdf