Taxonomic position of Babycurus ornatus Werner, 1936

Babycurus ornatus was described by Werner in 1936 from Mozambique and has been accepted as valid by other authors (Vachon, 1940: 179; Weidner, 1959: 98; Lamoral & Reynders, 1975: 498; Kovařík, 1998: 104; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 79; Kovařík, 2000: 252). The first author (F.K.) recently studied the types (Figs. 40– 49) and found that legs III and IV both bear tibial spurs (Figs. 46–47). This character is diagnostic for the genus Lychas C. L. Koch, 1845, whereas in genera Babycurus and Barbaracurus gen. n., leg III lacks tibial spurs (only present on leg IV) (e.g. Figs. 99–106). Moreover, it was found that the types of Babycurus ornatus and Lychas burdoi are precisely matched in the following key characters: trichobothrial pattern, pedipalp finger dentation (Figs. 44–45), pectinal tooth count and pectine lamellar structure, body and appendage proportions, setation, carination and sculpture of pedipalps, carapace, tergites, sternites, form of metasoma and telson (Figs. 40–49), as well as armature of chelicerae and pedipalp fingers. The inevitable conclusion is that Babycurus ornatus Werner, 1936 is a junior synonym of Lychas burdoi (Simon, 1882) syn. n.