A revision of the Appalachian spider genus Liocranoides (Araneae, Tengellidae). American Museum novitates ; no. 3285

Abstract

"The spider genus Liocranoides Keyserling is relimited to include only a small group of Appalachian spiders, and its suggested (albeit surprising) placement in the family Tengellidae is tentatively accepted. The closest relatives of the genus appear to be from California and adjacent areas (Titiotus Simon, Anachemmis Chamberlin, and an apparently undescribed genus) but previous hypotheses that some or all of those western taxa should be placed in Liocranoides are rejected. Because the type species of Liocranoides was based on a juvenile from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and no adults seem subsequently to have been collected from that area, the identity of L. unicolor remains uncertain. It has seemed best to use that name for the geographically closest species, so adult males (the first described for the genus) and females of a species known only from caves in north-central Tennessee are assigned to L. unicolor, and four new species are described: L. tennesseensis from central and eastern Tennessee, L. coylei from southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee, L. archeri from south-central Tennessee and northeastern Alabama, and L. gertschi from northern Alabama and northwestern Georgia. All five species have been taken in caves, and two (L. unicolor and L. archeri) are so far known only from that habitat"--P. [1].