Pakawops gen. n.

Crews, Sarah C. & Harvey, Mark S., 2011, The spider family Selenopidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Australasia and the Oriental Region, ZooKeys 99, pp. 1-104 : 66-67

Genus Pakawops gen. n.

Type species:

Selenops formosanus Kayashima, 1943a.

Etymology.

Pakawops gen. n. comes from a combination of words and honors the indigenous peoples of Taiwan and refers to the indigenous selenopid known to occur on the island. Though there were many different indigenous languages of Taiwan, we chose the extinct East Formosan Basay language, as the type locality is within area the Basay peoples once inhabited. Basay: Pakaw = spider; Greek: ops = face, eye. We retain the traditional ending of selenopid genera of ops, which originally referred to the eye arrangement. The gender is masculine.

Diagnosis.

Pakawops gen. n.can be separated from all other genera by the presence of 7 pairs of ventral spines on tibiae I and II, and 5 pairs on metatarsi I and II in combination with being found in Taiwan.

Remarks.

Although we have not examined specimens of this species, the published descriptions ( Kayashima 1943a, b) show it to be clearly different from any other genus of Selenopidae . Kayashima (1943a) mentions that it is similar to Selenops radiatus , though it differs in the ventral tibial and metatarsal spination and is much smaller.

Description.

Total length 6.10. Cephalothorax: Carapace yellowish brown to grey wider than long; setae long and thin; chelicerae with 2 retrolateral teeth. Legs: Leg II longer than leg IV, leg III longest; tibial and metatarsal ventral spination 7-5.

Distribution.

Taiwan, near Taipei (Map 1). It is likely found on other parts of the island.

Composition.

A single species, Pakawops formosanus (Kayashima, 1943) comb. n.