Pamphobeteus nigricolor ( Ausserer 1875 )

Bertani, Rogério, Fukushima, Caroline Sayuri & Júnior, Pedro Ismael Da Silva, 2008, Two new species of Pamphobeteus Pocock 1901 (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Theraphosidae) from Brazil, with a new type of stridulatory organ, Zootaxa 1826, pp. 45-58 : 47-48

Pamphobeteus nigricolor ( Ausserer 1875)

Lasiodora nigricolor Ausserer 1875: 192 , plate 7, fig. 36.

Pamphobeteus nigricolor: Pocock 1901: 545 ; Schiapelli & Gerschman 1979: 295, figs 25–31; Schmidt 1993: 92, figs 256–258; Pérez-Miles et al. 1996: 54, fig. 32; Schmidt 1997 and 1998: 20, figs 220–222; Bertani 2000: 30, figs 39– 40.

Pamphobeteus negricolor: Smith 1986: 160 , fig. 72h; Smith 1987: 160, fig. 72h.

Diagnosis: – Males resemble those of P. augusti , P. insignis and P. ornatus by the slender embolus; they can be distinguished from these three species by the embolus being roughly the same width for its length, i.e., without any constriction on apex. Females resemble those of P. f e ro x and P. fortis by the spermathecae having narrow bases, less than two times receptaculum length. They can be distinguished from P. f e ro x by the lateral sides of the spermathecae basis not extending laterally and from P. fortis by the unconstricted receptacula stalks.

Material examined: – BRAZIL: Amazonas: Seringalzinho, Jaú National Park, 0 1o 50’S 61o 35’W, IBSP 9698, male, S. Couceiro et al. col., 7 Aug 2000.

Distribution: – Colombia and here newly recorded from the state of Amazonas, Brazil.

Remarks: – Pocock (1901), after diagnosing Pamphobeteus , and designating the type species as being P. nigricolor , cited their zoogeographical range as Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. However, it is unclear whether he was referring only to the type species or to the genus. Pocock (1903) described three new Pamphobeteus species and transferred two other species to Pamphobeteus , having as the geographical distribution the same three countries. Hence, we believe that Pocock (1901) was referring to the genus distribution (he was probably then aware that Pamphobeteus species occurred in those countries). P. nigricolor seems to be found only in the region of the Colombian–Brazilian border. It is improbable that this species reaches Ecuador and Bolivia. Furthermore, P. nigricolor was described from specimens from “Neu-Granada” ( Colombia); the syntype labels have the inscription “Bogota”. However, the city of Bogota, situated at a high altitude (2640 meters above sea level), has no recent records of theraphosids (Juan Jacobo Jimenez, pers. com.). On the other hand, it was, in the past, an important center in South America. Hence, we suggest that the type specimens came from lower elevation forests east of the Andean cordillera and were dispatched to Europe through Bogota, thus causing this confusion. The collection of a specimen in the Brazilian Amazon forest support this suggestion.

Note: – Females of P. o r n a t u s, P. insignis and P. augisti are undescribed. Males of P. f e ro x and P. fortis were described by Schmidt (1990) and Strand (1907), respectively. However, it is not possible to be sure that they are conspecific with their males based only on these poor descriptions.