Abstract
Three species of Synemosyna Hentz, 1846 were recorded during a survey in five Bolivian forest ecoregions: S. aurantiaca (Mello-Leitão, 1917), S. myrmeciaeformis (Taczanowski, 1871) and S. nicaraguaensis Cutler, 1993. Synemosyna aurantiaca and S. nicaraguaensis are recorded for Bolivia for the first time and the previously unknown male of S. nicaraguaensis is described and illustrated. The habitus and the genitalia of the female of S. myrmeciaeformis are illustrated for the first time. Synemosyna aurantiaca occurs in semi-deciduous forests south of 18° S and S. myrmeciaeformis in the Bolivian Yungas forest and ecoregions of the Amazon biome north of 16° S. Synemosyna nicaraguaensis is possibly an Andean species that enters into the moist Isthmian forests of Central America. Several potential mimicry complexes with two broad patterns were observed: sex-specific polychromatic mimicry (S. nicaraguaensis), and transformational mimicry involving smaller orange and larger brown to dark-brown forms (S. aurantiaca and S. myrmeciaeformis).
Highlights
Ant-mimicking spiders have fascinated many naturalists over centuries and are a promising group to study mimicry and evolution through natural selection (Nelson & Jackson 2012; Ceccarelli 2013)
In the family Salticidae Blackwall, 1841, strong ant mimicry has evolved at least 12 times (Maddison 2015), and mimetic specialization to an ant-like appearance has reached an extreme within Synemosyna Hentz, 1832 (Peckham & Peckham 1892; Oliveira 1988)
Species of Synemosyna can be distinguished from those of Fluda Peckham & Peckham, 1892 and Erica Peckham & Peckham, 1892 by a carapace laterally constricted and an epigyne with a single opening (2–3 in the latter genera), and from those of Sympolymnia Perger & Rubio, 2020 by a fusiform abdomen that is longer than the carapace, the carapace with at the most one lateral white patch, and spermathecae small, globular, pear- or kidney-shaped
Summary
Ant-mimicking (or myrmecomorphic) spiders have fascinated many naturalists over centuries and are a promising group to study mimicry and evolution through natural selection (Nelson & Jackson 2012; Ceccarelli 2013). In the family Salticidae Blackwall, 1841, strong ant (or wasp) mimicry has evolved at least 12 times (Maddison 2015), and mimetic specialization to an ant-like appearance has reached an extreme within Synemosyna Hentz, 1832 (Peckham & Peckham 1892; Oliveira 1988). Several species of Synemosyna were cited for their strong resemblance to members of the ant genus Pseudomyrmex Lund, 1831 (see Cushing 1997 for a review). Morphology and ecoregion distribution of species of Synemosyna may provide an essential basis for future studies on mimicry (e.g., McIver & Stonedahl 1993). These fields remain poorly understood (Cutler 1981a). There are neither distributional records for vast areas of Amazonian and Andean forests, nor information on ecoregion affinities in the literature, hampering the analysis of biogeographical and mimetic patterns
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