Nearctic Species of the Wolf SpiderGenus Trochosa (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Abstract

The previously monotypic North American spider genusRabidosa Roewer is characterized an d expanded to include five species: Rabidosa rabida, R. santrita, R. punctulata, R. carrana and R. hentzi, all originally described underLycosa . Descriptions, diagnoses, illustrations, distribution maps, natural history note s (where known), a provisional phylogeny, and an identification key are provided for these five species . This investigation is part of a study of the sys- tematics of the Nearctic Lycosidae, focused pri- marily upon those wolf spiders described in th e genus Lycosa . Well over 50 species of medium- to-large size wolf spiders from the Nearctic Re- gion have been described in this genus . Studie s of Lycosa by the senior author over the past 15 years have disclosed considerable heterogeneit y in taxonomic characters such as color patterns , eye arrangement, and genitalic features of male s and females . Comparison of Lycosa tarentul a Linnaeus, the type species of the genus Lycosa , with North American species of Lycosa disclose s few similarities in these characters . Because of this, Dondale & Redner (1990) have transferre d many of the large species of North American wolf spiders formerly placed in Lycosa to the genu s Hogna . The generic name Hogna was first use d by Simon (1885) for the species known as Lycos a radiata Latreille, which is apparently related t o North American species in genitalic character- istics . In preliminary studies, certain shared char- acteristics (color pattern, genitalic characters, le g length relative to body dimensions, and eye-ro w relationships) were used to distinguish distinc t groups of species placed in Lycosa . Trochosa a s defined by Brady (1979), Varacosa separated fro m Trochosa by Jimenez & Dondale (1987), Glad- icosa established by Brady (1986), and Rabidosa , described here, contain species formerly place d in Lycosa . The scrutiny and definition of thes e four genera should prove useful in determinin g the evolutionary relationships of the remainin g