Pachyballus gambeyi (Simon, 1880)

Wesolowska, Wanda, Azarkina, Galina N. & Wisniewski, Konrad, 2020, A revision of Pachyballus Simon, 1900 and Peplometus Simon, 1900 (Araneae, Salticidae, Ballini) with descriptions of new species, ZooKeys 944, pp. 47-98 : 47

Pachyballus gambeyi (Simon, 1880)

Homalattus gambeyi Simon 1880: 166 (♂).

Pachyballus gambeyi Simon 1901: 485; Prószyński 1987: fig. on p. 73 (♂).

Holotype.

New Caledonia • 1♂; [leg.] Bougier; MNHN 3646; not examined.

Remarks.

The holotype was examined by Prószyński (1987). His drawings show that this specimen has palpal organ typical for Pachyballus , but morphological characters do not allow any specific identification. Simon described this species from Canala (21°32'S, 165°57'E), central New Caledonia. All species of Pachyballus are restricted to Africa, which is thousands kilometers from New Caledonia. This distribution pattern is highly improbable, and the situation might have resulted simply by mislabelling the sample, which is not an uncommon problem in collections. As the provenience of the specimen is doubtful we conclude that the status of P. gambeyi remains unclear.