On a confusion with the type localities of spiders described from the material collected during the Second Yarkand Mission

Abstract

Octavius Pickard-Cambridge described 108 new spider species from material collected by Ferdinand Stoliczka on the Second Yarkand Expedition 1873–1874. A brief history of the both the first and second expeditions is given, along with a detail account of the material history. Due to the death of Stoliczka in the field whilst on the return leg of the expedition, much of the data that accompanied the specimens was lost. Despite this, the collection remains an important one, representing some of the earliest material known to western science from the region. Since description, the types have largely gone unrecognised in the collection due the various difficulties in identifying them. In 2017 a project was started to rectify this. To date, 36 species have been redescribed. Through a combination of specimen study and archival research it has been possible to present a corrected locality list for 78 of the type specimens. Advice for those wishing to study the Yarkand material or historic spider collections of this nature is given.