Cosmetus varius Perty, 1833

Medrano, Miguel, Kury, Adriano B. & Martinez, Leonel, 2021, A fresh look at Cosmetus Perty, 1833 (Opiliones: Cosmetidae), with new synonymies and description of two new species from Colombia, Zootaxa 5004 (3), pp. 430-446 : 433-435

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5004.3.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E5AB5F1C-CA71-48D7-95AE-C982C6825AB1
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C787D4-D648-FF90-FF27-F9B7FD87FAC2
treatment provided by	Plazi (2021-07-21 21:02:06, last updated 2023-11-03 12:00:55)
scientific name	Cosmetus varius Perty, 1833
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Cosmetus varius Perty, 1833 View in CoL

Cosmetus varius Perty 1833: 203 View in CoL .

Cosmetus varius View in CoL —C.L. Koch 1839c: 20; C.L. Koch 1840 a: 109, pl. 248, fig. 586 (misidentification of C. delicatus (Soares & Soares, 1946)) View in CoL ; Lucas 1840: 458; Gervais 1844: 116 (French vernacular “Cosmète varié”); Simon 1879 a: 191; Roewer 1912 d: 101; Roewer 1923: 377, fig. 458; Mello-Leitão 1923c: 114; Roewer 1928a: 609; Mello-Leitão 1932: 60, fig. 25; Kury 2003 a: 41 (cat.).

Cosmetus mesacanthus C.L. Koch 1839b: 111 View in CoL , pl. 249, fig. 587. SYN. NOV.

Cosmetus mesacanthus View in CoL — Simon 1879: 191; Roewer 1912 d: 101; Roewer 1923: 377; Mello-Leitão 1923c: 114; Strand 1926: 43; Roewer 1928a: 609; Mello-Leitão 1932: 60; Sørensen in Henriksen 1932a: 315.

“ Cosmetus mesacathus ”: C.L. Koch 1839c: 20 . ‡ Incorrect subsequent spelling.

“ Cosmetus mesacanthos ”: Mello-Leitão 1933c: 104 . ‡ Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Cosmetus pleurostigma Sørensen View in CoL in Henriksen 1932a: 316. SYN NOV.

Cosmetus pleurostigma —Mello-Leitão 1933c: 104; Mello-Leitão 1935b: 115.

Cosmetus turritus Sørensen in Henriksen 1932a: 317. SYN. NOV.

Cosmetus turritus —Mello-Leitão 1935b: 115.

“ Cosmetus tursitus ”: Mello-Leitão 1933c: 104 . ‡ Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Type data. C, varius : ( ZSMC, lost), from BRAZIL, without further locality data. C. mesacanthus : ♂ ♀ syntypes ( NHMW, not examined), from BRAZIL , without further locality data. C. pleurostigma : 3 syntypes dried ( ZMB 952 View Materials , examined by photograph), BRAZIL, Bahia, Salvador . C. turritus : 2 syntypes ( ZMB, not examined), BRAZIL, Bahia, Salvador .

Material examined. BRAZIL, Bahia: 1♂ 1♀ ( MNRJ 7632 View Materials ), Elísio Medrado , RPPN Jequitibá. oct 07 2007. R . Bertani , R. H. Nagahama & C.S. Fukushima leg. ; 1♂ 2♀ ( MNRJ 8539 View Materials ), Mata de São João , RPPN Mata de São João. oct 08 2011. Pérez A. & Huber, B.; 2 unsexed specimens ( ZMB 951 View Materials ), identified as C. mesacanthus by Roewer in 1916 ( Figs 3 View FIGURE 3 A−D) .

Rationale for the synonymies. We recognize here the coarsely granular brown Cosmetus from Eastern Bahia, profusely and variably sprinkled with golden-white dots and wavy reticles as Perty’s C. varius . The color pattern varies from a well-developed complex mask, covering the animal’s entire body and giving it a honeycombed appearance ( Fig 5A View FIGURE 5 ), to a more dissociated pattern ( Figs 2D View FIGURE 2 and 5B View FIGURE 5 ), where the animal is more “bicolor” like the average cosmetid.

If we follow the itinerary of Spix & von Martius in their Brazilian Expedition ( Fig. 11C View FIGURE 11 ), it is easy to note that they bypassed Espírito Santo and bisected Bahia ending up in Salvador, which is entirely consistent with our proposed identification of C. varius . Perty (1833: 203) characterized C. varius as follows: “Fuscus, margine undique et punctis numerosis dorsalibus albidis”, which does not match the “redescription” of this species as given by C.L. Koch (1840: 109). Koch’s description and illustration of C. varius correspond to Cosmetus delicatus instead. However, Koch mentions that his C. mesacanthus is yellow. Roewer (1912) followed Koch blindly. We do not think that either has recognized the true C. varius , which we deem to be the same species as C. mesacanthus . Additionally, Sørensen (1932) described two other species also within the distribution of the herein recognized C. varius ( Fig. 11D View FIGURE 11 ), and these correspond respectively to the honeycombed ( C. turritus ) and bicolored ( C. pleurostigma ) variants depicted in Figs 3 View FIGURE 3 E−H and 4A−B.

References

Gervais, P. (1844) Aceres Phryneides, Scorpionides, Solpugides, Phalangides et Acarides; Diceres Epizoiques, Aphanipteres et Thysanoures. In: Walckenaer, C. A. (Org.), Histoire naturelle des Insectes Apteres. Vol. 3. Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, pp. 94 - 131, pls. 28 - 30.

Koch, C. L. (1839 b) Ubersicht des Arachnidensystems. Zweites Heft (of 5). Nurnberg: C. H. Zeh, Nurnberg, 38 pp., 6 pls.

Koch, C. L. (1840) s. n. In: Die Arachniden getreu nach der Natur abgebildet und beschrieben. Vol. 7. Part 6. C. H. Zeh'schen Buchhandlung, Nurnberg, pp. 107 - 158, 6 pls.

Kury, A. B. (2003) Annotated catalogue of the Laniatores of the New World (Arachnida, Opiliones). Revista Iberica de Aracnologia, Volumen especial monografco, 1, 1 - 337.

Lucas, P. H. (1840) Huitieme famille. Phalangiens, Latreille. In: Lucas, P. H. (Ed.), Histoire naturelle des Crustaces, des Arachnides et des Myriapodes. P. Dumenil, Paris, pp. 453 - 467.

Perty, J. A. M. (1833) Delectus animalium articulatorum, quae in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX [1817 - 1820] jussu et auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I Bavariae Regis augustissimi peracto, collegerunt Dr. J. B. de Spix et Dr. C. F. Ph. de Martius. Vol. 3. [Opiliones, pp 201 - 209]. [ 1830 - 1834 ]. Friedrich Fleischer, Monachii [Munchen], 224 pp., pls. 25 - 40. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 102991

Roewer, C. F. (1912) Die Familie der Cosmetiden Opiliones-Laniatores. Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, 78 (10), 1 - 122.

Simon, E. (1879) Essai d'une classification des Opiliones Mecostethi. Remarques synonymiques et descriptions d'especes nouvelles. Premiere partie. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique, 22, 183 - 241.

Sorensen, W. E. (1932) Descriptiones Laniatorum (Arachnidorum Opilionum Subordinis). Opus posthumum recognovit et edidit Kai L. Henriksen. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs skrifter, Naturvidenskabelig og Mathematisk Afdeling [ection des sciences Naturelles et mathematiques], Series 9, 3 (4), 197 - 422.

Figures

FIGURE 2A−D. Living specimens of Cosmetus spp. from Atlantic Forest in Brazil. (A−B) C. delicatus from Espírito Santo. (C) C. arietinus, from Espírito Santo. (D) C. varius from Bahia. Photos by Miguel Medrano & Adriano Kury (A–B) and courtesy of Marcos Martinelli (C) and Airton Carvalho (D).

FIGURE 3A−E. Cosmetus varius from ZMB with labels, from Brazil, Bahia.A−D. C. mesacanthus (ZMB 951) ID by Roewer. E−H. Syntypes of C. pleurostigma (ZMB 952). Courtesy of Anja Friederichs & Jason Dunlop.

FIGURE 5A−D. Cosmetus acanti sp. nov.: (A) Male holotype (MPUJ_ENT 58151), dorsal view. (B) same, frontal view. (C) same, lateral view showing spine length (SL). (D) female paratype (MPUJ_ENT 47575), dorsal view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 11A−D. Distribution of Cosmetus. (A) known distribution of species currently included in Cosmetus. (B) detail of Panama and Colombia. (C) Brazilian species compared with itinerary of Spix and von Martius expedition. (D) detail of species in Bahia and Espírito Santo states (except for C. unispinosus and C. soerenseni with the vague locality “Bahia”).

Abbreviations

ZSMC	Zoologische Staatssammlung
NHMW	Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
ZMB	Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Zoological Collections)
R	Departamento de Geologia, Universidad de Chile