A review of the Madagascan pelican spiders of the genera Eriauchenius O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1881 and Madagascarchaea gen. n. (Araneae, Archaeidae).

ABSTRACT

An endemic genus of Madagascan spiders (Araneae, Archaeidae, Eriauchenius) is revised. All 20 species of Eriauchenius are described and keyed, of which 14 are new species Eriauchenius andriamanelosp. n., Eriauchenius andrianampoinimerinasp. n., Eriauchenius goodmanisp. n., Eriauchenius harveyisp. n., Eriauchenius lukemacaulayisp. n., Eriauchenius milajaneaesp. n., Eriauchenius millotisp. n., Eriauchenius rafohysp. n., Eriauchenius ranavalonasp. n., Eriauchenius rangitasp. n., Eriauchenius rixisp. n., Eriauchenius samasp. n., Eriauchenius wunderlichisp. n., Eriauchenius zirafysp. n. Additionally, six species of the new genus Madagascarchaeagen. n. are described and keyed, of which four are new species Madagascarchaea fohysp. n., Madagascarchaea lotzisp. n., Madagascarchaea moramorasp. n., Madagascarchaea rabesahalasp. n. Diagnostic characters for the Madagascan and African genera are described, and based on these characters and previous phylogenetic analyses the following species transfers are proposed Eriauchenius cornutus (Lotz, 2003) to Afrarchaea; Afrarchaea fisheri (Lotz, 2003) and Afrarchaea mahariraensis (Lotz, 2003) to Eriauchenius. Finally, we propose that the distribution of Afrarchaea be restricted to South Africa. While several Madagascan specimens have previously been identified as Afrarchaea godfreyi (Hewitt, 1919), we argue that these are likely misidentifications that should instead be Eriauchenius.