Psellocoptus

Taxobox
name = "Psellocoptus"


image_caption =
image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Araneomorphae
familia = Corinnidae
genus = "Psellocoptus"
genus_authority = Simon, 1896
diversity_link = List of Corinnidae species#Psellocoptus
diversity = 3 species
range_

range_map_width = 250px
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

"Psellocoptus" is a genus of running spiders (family Corinnidae, formerly Clubionidae) that is endemic to Venezuela. When Eugène Simon discovered the first species ("P. flavostriatus"), he described it as a "beautiful and large species from the forests of Venezuela which [is] found running rapidly on the trunks of trees". The two other species, found in 1971, are very similar to the first, while the whole genus is quite distinct from any other genus in general form and characteristics. It probably became isolated from the more widespread genera "Myrmecium" and "Castianeira".

Description

While the similar genera "Myrmecium" and "Sphecotypus" also have indented carapaces, "Psellocoptus" has a rounded anterior end and a relatively "unsegmented" red-brown, shiny, slightly granulated carapace.

pecies

* "Psellocoptus buchlii" Reiskind, 1971 (Venezuela)
* "Psellocoptus flavostriatus" Simon, 1896 (Venezuela)
* "Psellocoptus prodontus" Reiskind, 1971 (Venezuela)

Names

The species name "flavostriatus" means "striped yellow". "P. buchlii" is named after the late Harro Buchli; the species name "prodontus" is from the Greek meaning "tooth in front".

References

* Reiskind, J. (1971). The South American Castianeirinae. I. The Genus "Psellocoptus" (Araneae: Clubionidae). "Psyche" 78:193-202 [http://psyche2.entclub.org/articles/78/78-193.pdf PDF] (with key to males and females)