Vitalius sorocabae ( Mello-Leitão, 1923 )

Bertani, Rogério, 2023, Taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of Lasiodora C. L. Koch, 1850 (Araneae, Theraphosidae) with notes on related genera, Zootaxa 5390 (1), pp. 1-116 : 110

Vitalius sorocabae ( Mello-Leitão, 1923)

Pamphobeteus sorocabae Mello-Leitão, 1923: 233 ; Bücherl 1947: 257; 1957: 403, f. 88─88a.

Vitalius sorocabae Lucas, Silva Jr. & Bertani, 1993 ; Pérez-Miles et al. 1996; Bertani 2000: 30, f. 33─34; Bertani 2001: 292, f. 17, 74─82.

Pamphobeteus melanocephalus Mello-Leitão, 1923 . First synonymized by Bücherl 1947.

Nhandu sylviae Sherwood, Gabriel & Brescovit, 2023: 709 , f. 1─8. New synonymy.

Remark. Sherwood, Gabriel & Brescovit (2023) described a new species of Nhandu , N. sylviae , based on a male deposited at the BMNH, from “near Isherton”, Guyana, collected in 1952 by G. McDonnell; and 2 females from “ Guyana ”, collected by Gaubey, without further data, deposited at the MNHN. The authors stated “The description of N. sylviae represents the first records of Nhandu north of the Amazon River”. In fact, all species of the related genera Nhandu , Vitalius , Lasiodora , Tekoapora , Lasiocyano , Parvicarina , Crypsidromus , Eupalaestrus and Pterinopelma are distributed south of the Amazon river, mainly in the Northeastern, Centralwestern, Southeastern and Southern Brazil ( Bertani 2001). Thus, this new species record is extraordinary. But, as Carl Sagan’s aphorism, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”. This is not the case. The specimens were not collected in the same locality and their conspecificity was not discussed. The authors presented an image of the spermathecae of the female which is compatible with those of Nhandu coloratovillosus and Nhandu tripepii , but they did not discuss other diagnostic characters of the genus Nhandu ( Bertani 2001) . All Nhandu species have the carapace covered with long curled setae ( Bertani 2001), but the authors did not cite this character. Even though the spermathecae resemble two Nhandu species, spermathecae shape of theraphosids are simple structures which sometimes have similar shape in not closely related taxa, i.e., there is a lot of homoplasy (pers. obs.). Moreover, the holotype male of N. sylviae has a palp bulb with slender distal embolus that does not fit the incrassate embolus of Nhandu species ( Bertani 2001). Furthermore, the images presented by the authors show a double spur with short curved processes, and the metatarsus I surely folds on the retrolateral face of the retrolateral process. All Nhandu species with spur have both processes more or less straight and the metatarsus I touches the apex of the retrolateral process when folded ( Bertani 2001). The tibial spur shape of N. sylviae is very similar to that of Vitalius species and is diagnostic of the genus ( Bertani 2001). The male bulb shape is very similar to that of Vitalius sorocabae ( Bertani 2001 f. 76─77), which also have whitish rings on the legs, as that showed in figs 6─7 of Sherwood, Gabriel and Brescovit (2023). Therefore, I consider a label mistake has occurred and the specimen is not from Guyana, but from Southeastern Brazil. Due to this, I consider Nhandu sylviae Sherwood, Gabriel and Brescovit, 2023 a junior synonym of Vitalius sorocabae ( Mello-Leitão, 1923) .