A new genus of Neotropical spiders of the family Sparassidae (Arachnida: Araneae)

Pinto, Elaine CristinaRheims, Cristina Anne

Nungara gen. nov. is proposed to include the type species, Nungara niveomaculata (Mello-Leitão, 1941) comb. nov., transferred from Olios Walckenaer, 1837 and two new species, described from males and females: N. anama sp. nov., from the states of Sergipe, Alagoas and Espírito Santo, and N. gaturama sp. nov., from the states of Sergipe, Bahia and Espírito Santo, all in Brazil. The new genus is distinguished from all other Neotropical sparassid genera by the presence of a deep tegular groove on the male palpal bulb and a hood-like projection on the median septum of the female epigyne. In addition, Olios fuscovariatus Mello-Leitão, 1943, Stasina koluene Mello-Leitão, 1941 and Polybetes proximus Mello-Leitão, 1943 are transferred to Nungara gen. nov. and considered junior synonyms of N. niveomaculata . All species are described and illustrated and a distribution map is provided.(AU)

1. taxonomy
2. Brazil
3. new species
4. South America