Pulchellaranea pedunculatan. gen.n. sp. (Araneae: Araneidae), a new genus of spiders with a review of araneid spiders in Cenozoic Dominican amber

Abstract

Pulchellaranea pedunculatan. gen., n. sp. (Araneae: Araneidae), a new genus of orb web spiders, is described from Cenozoic Dominican amber. Fossil representatives of the Araneidae are uncommon, even though the family is widely distributed today. An arboreal ant adjacent to Pulchellaranea pedunculata indicates the likely habit of the fossil spider in the Dominican amber forest. The encounter with the ant may have resulted in both specimens falling into fresh resin on the trunk of the Algarroba tree. A key to araneid spiders reported in Dominican amber is provided.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D7F92A3C-46BB-48C0-9BA1-0496038F04A5

Keywords::

• fossil orb web spider
• Dominican Republic
• Hispaniolae

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Joerg Wunderlich, Herbert Levi and Pat Craig for discussions regarding morphological characters of the fossil, Cesare Baroni Urbani for identifying the amber ant and Paul Seldon, Art Boucot and Roberta Poinar for comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.