Mecynogea bigibba Simon, 1903

Martins, Pedro H. & Santos, Adalberto J., 2018, Morphology and taxonomy of the orb-weaving spider genus Mecynogea, and a peculiar species of Argiope (Araneae, Araneidae), Zootaxa 4415 (3), pp. 423-451 : 438

Mecynogea bigibba Simon, 1903

Mecynogea bigibba Simon, 1903: 25 (Female holotype from province of Goyaz [currently encompassing the Brazilian states of Goiás, Tocantins and parts of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul], Brazil, in MNHN 21560, examined by photograph). Roewer 1942: 747; Bonnet 1957: 2745; World Spider Catalog 2017 (complete taxonomic citation history).

Remarks. Mecynogea bigibba was described by Simon (1903) based on a specimen labelled just as “prov. Goyaz”. Although Levi (1997) interpreted the type locality as Goiânia (the capital of the Brazilian state of Goiás), this old locality name corresponds to the Brazilian states of Goiás, Tocantins and parts of the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul.

Distribution. This species is known mostly from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, in southern and southeastern Brazil, with only two doubtful records. The first refers to the holotype, a very old specimen with poor locality information. As mentioned above, it could have come from any of four Brazilian states, encompassing areas of humid forest and savannas (the Brazilian Cerrado). Regarding the other doubtful record (Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Levi 1997), we could not examine the specimen, but we suspect it could actually represent M. infelix , which was considered a junior synonym of M. bigibba by Levi (1997). The new records presented herein connect previous records in southern and southeastern Brazil and expands the species northern distribution range by about 1560 km ( Fig. 18 ).

Material examined. BRAZIL: Ceará: Quixadá, Serra do Estevão , estrada para Dom Maurício (4°55'32.6"S, 39°8'31.6"W), 482 m, 18.IV.2014, M.B. Silva & N. Saraiva leg., 1♀ ( UFMG 17348 ) ; Quixadá, Serra do Urucu, Santuário Nossa Senhora (5°2'6"S, 39°0'38.2"W), 344 m, 19.IV.2014, M.B. Silva & N. Saraiva leg., 1♀ ( UFMG 17349 ) ; Espírito Santo: Vitória, Morro Moscoso [20°19'0"S, 40°21'0"W], 129 m, X.1981, A. Serruti leg., 1♀ ( MNRJ 2332 ) ; Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte, Estação Ecológica da UFMG [19°52'38"S, 43°58'16"W], 845 m, IX.2000, E.S.S. Álvares leg., 2♀ ( UFMG 19485 ) ; Marliéria, Parque Estadual do Rio Doce [19°42'58.62"S, 42°44'1.69"W], 597 m, 15.II.2003, T. Rodrigues leg., 1♀ ( UFMG 1637 ) ; Rio de Janeiro: Arraial do Cabo, Ilha de Cabo Frio [22°57'58"S, 42°1'40"W], 2.III.2001, E. Wienskoski leg., 2♂ 1♀ ( MZSP 61719 ) ; Rio Grande do Sul: Derrubadas, Parque Estadual do Turvo , [27°13'13.56"S, 53°57'9.04"W], 312 m, 11–18.I.2002, Equipe Biota leg., 1♀ ( IBSP 96716 ) ; Porto Alegre, Lomba do Pinheiro [30°7'0.87"S, 51°6'7.11"W], 106 m, 3.I.2005, A.D. Brescovit leg., 1♂ ( IBSP 48389 ) ; São Leopoldo [29°45'21.65"S 51° 8'57.79"W], 28.XI.1965, C. Valle leg., 2♂ 1♂ 4 juv. ( MZSP 4897 ) ; Santa Catarina: Itapoá, Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Volta Velha (26°5'21.6"S, 48°38'24.2"W), 17.XII.2011, I.L.F. Magalhães et al. leg., 1♂ ( UFMG 10824 ) ; São Bento do Sul, Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais Rugendas (26°19'24.9"S, 49°18'26.4"W), 617 m, 13–20.XII.2011, I.L.F. Magalhães et al. leg., 1♂ 1♀ ( UFMG 11748 ) , Seara, Distrito de Nova Teutônia (27°7'49"S, 52°21'9"W), 687 m, 4.II.2008, M.O. Gonzaga & A.J. Santos leg., 1♀ ( UFMG 5543 ) ; São Paulo: Botucatu, Fazenda Lageado, UNESP [22°50'20"S, 48°26'29"W], 712 m, 1.I.2003, E. Wienskoski leg., 1♀ ( MZSP 62599 ) ; Botucatu, Vitoriana, Fazenda Goldfarm [22°44'14"S, 48°18'24"W], 566 m, 4.VIII.1987, I. Rinaldi leg., 1♀ (MZSP 61212); Cotia, Caucaia do Alto, Reserva do Morro Grande [23°43'53.63"S, 46°57'52.72"W], 971 m, 24.I.2000, A.M.F. Pacheco leg., 1♂ ( IBSP 36369 ) ; 1♀ (IBSP 57052); 1♀ (IBSP 57053); 1♂ (IBSP 57054); 1♀ (IBSP 57055); 1♀ (IBSP 57056); 1♀ (IBSP 57057); 17.XII.2001, M. Silveira leg., 1♀ (IBSP 57058); 1♀ (IBSP 57059); Itapecerica da Serra [23°43'1"S, 46°50'57"W], 907 m, 19.XII.1980, D. Lourenço leg., 1♂ ( IBSP 19857 ) ; Jundiaí, Parque Estadual da Serra do Japi [23°17'0"S, 46°59'0"W], 822 m, J. Sobjack leg., 1♂ ( UFMG 19488 ) ; Nazaré Paulista [23°10'31.36"S, 46°22'54"W], 797 m, 30.I.2007, C.G. Peixoto leg., 1♀ ( IBSP 72046 ) ; Ribeirão Grande, Parque Estadual de Intervales [24°18'31.59"S, 48°16'24.92"W], 599 m, 7.I.2002, M.O. Gonzaga leg., 2♂ 1 juv. ( IBSP 58803 ) ; 2002–2003, M.O. Gonzaga leg., 1♂ (IBSP 71732); São Caetano do Sul, Espaço Verde Chico Mendes [23°37'54.54"S, 46°34'18.93"W], 756 m, 2004, A. Macedo leg., 2♀ ( IBSP 75127 ) ; São Paulo [23°32'51"S, 46°38'10"W], 732 m, 10.I.1985, Equipe IBSP leg., 1♂ ( IBSP 4524 ) ; São Paulo, Campus USP, Reserva Florestal Cuaso [23°33'41.04"S, 46°43'50.84"W], 742 m, 1.II.2001, J. Império leg., 1♀ ( IBSP 32898 ) ; São Paulo, Campus IBSP [23°33'58.8"S, 46°43'7.06"W], 751 m, XII.1994, A.D. Brescovit leg., 1♂ ( IBSP 6123 ) ; São Paulo, Jardim Zoológico [23°39'7.2"S, 46°37'13.96"W], 804 m, I.1990, R. Bertani leg., 1♀ ( IBSP 4277 ) .

Figures

FIGURE 18. Geographic distribution records of Mecynogea bigibba Simon, 1903. Circles indicate previously known records and stars represent new records (“?” indicates the uncertainty of the type locality attributed by Levi (1997)).