A new species of Neonella is described that has a distribution apparently restricted to the southeast coast of Florida. So far, it has only been found in Brevard and Monroe counties. It is closely related to N. mayaguez Galiano from Puerto Rico

Edwards, G. B.

English

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INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 15, No.3, September, 2001  157 A new species of Neonella (Araneae: Salticidae) from southeast Florida G. B. Edwards Florida State  Collection of  Arthropods Florida Department  of  Agriculture and Consumer Services P. O. Box 147100 Gainesville, FL 32614-7100 USA Abstract. A new species of  Neonella is described that has a distribution apparently restricted to the southeast coast of  Florida. So far, it  has only been  found in Brevard and  Monroe counties. It  is closely related  to N. mayaguez Galiano from Puerto Rico. Key words. Araneae, Salticidae, Neonella, Florida Introduction Gertsch (1936) described  the genus Neonella and its type species, N. vinnula.  No other species from continental North America has been subsequently described.  Galiano (1965, 1988, 1998) described a total of  eight other species in the genus, mostly from Argentina and Paraguay. Two of the species, N. antillana Galiano 1988 from Jamaica and N. may-aguez Galiano 1998  from Puerto  Rico, are native to the Caribbean  region. Species of  Neonella are  among  the smallest  known species of  jumping  spiders, with adults generally  less than 2 mm in body length. They are typically found by sifting through leaflitter. Although not particu-larly ant-like in their general morphology, the pres-ence of  a shiny  integument  (especially a dorsal abdom-inal  scutum in males), along with their  small  size and waving of the front legs when alive, does impart a generalized ant-like appearance. The phylogenetic placement of this genus is uncertain, but the genital structure appears to most resemble genera in the subfamily Synagelinae, which, perhaps not coinci-dentally, consists of genera (such as Pechhamia and Synageles) that are reasonably good morphological ant-mimics. On the other hand, the presence of an embolar disk is suggestive of a relationship to the Euophryinae. Methods The following abbreviations are used in the de-scription: AME (diameter of anterior median eye), AERW (anterior  eye row width), PERW (posterior eye row width), OQL (ocular quadrangle length, i.e., an area defined by the anterior lateral and posterior lateral  eyes), PMEP (posterior median  eye position as ratio to OQL, anterior to posterior), CL (carapace length), CW (carapace width), CH(carapaceheightat PER), BL (total  body length), F (femur), P (patella), T (tibia), M (metatarsus), v (ventral), p (prolateral), r (retrolateral), unpaired  ventral  macrosetae  indicated as p or r, I-IV (legs I through IV, anterior  to posterior). Leg macrosetae are  recorded by their  relative position along a leg segment from proximal to distal.  Com-plete measurements  for the  holotype are given. Range of  variation  in CL, CW, and BL  is also given (4 males, 4 females).  All measurements are in mm. Neonella camillae Edwards, new species Figs. 1-6 Type data: FLORIDA: Monroe Co., Fleming Key, 28 March 1980, 3f paratypes; 30 March 1980, male holotype,  1m paratype (palps only,  body lost),  3f paratypes, 1juv; 31 March 1980, 1m paratype, 5f paratypes, 5juv (all G. B. Edwards, FSCA). Other record: FLORIDA: Brevard  Co., Canaveral  National Seashore, Playa Linda, 12 June 2001, 1m (J. Brambi-la, FSCA).  Only specimens known. Etymology: Named for Camilla B. Weems, wife of Dr. Howard V. Weems, Jr. (head curator emeritus, FSCA), both of whom are longtime friends. They, along with Nell Backus and myself, made up a team conducting an arthropod survey of Fleming Key during late March, 1980, for the Harry S. Truman Quarantine Facility on the island. Diagnosis: N. camillae is closely related to N. may-aguez Galiano 1998 (the male of the latter species is unknown). The epigynum closely resembles Galiano's figures 2 and 3, except the spermathecae are more elongate, the spermathecal  ducts not contiguous with the  spermathecae (i.e., they  are  more  laterally  placed), the part  ofthe  duct connecting  to the  copulatory  pore 158  Volume 15, No.3, September, 2001, INSECTA MUNDI 1 Figs. 1-6. Neonella camillae Edwards, n. sp. 1-2. Female. 1.dorsal habitus. 2. ventral habitus. 3-7. Male. 3. dorsal  habitus. 4. Left palp, ventral  view. 5. Left palp, prolateral  view. 6. Left palp patella, dorsoretrolateral view. Figs. 1-3 to same scale (see text), figs. 4-5 to same scale  (~0.25  mm), fig. 6 visible from different views and scale on figs. 4-5. is bent inward rather than bent anteriorly, and the anterior  edge ofthe spiral atria  is much more heavily sclerotized. Neonella camillae is also smaller  than  N. mayaguez. It  is possible that N. camillae is a geo-graphic race of  N. mayaguez, but it should be shown that N. mayaguez is more widespread in the West Indies and not restricted to Puerto Rico before this conclusion can reasonably  be considered. Description:  Male: Holotype: CLO.62, CH 0.29, CW 0.48, OQLO.31, AME 0.16, AERWO.50, PERW0.49, PMEP56% (closertoPLE), BL 1.07. Ranges: CLO.60-0.66, CW 0.45-0.49, BL 1.05-1.15.  Cephalothorax (Prosoma): Black pigment rings around eyes, OQ dark  brown  fading to orange brown posterior  to eyes, remainder of  carapace orange brown with paler  faint narrow median  thoracic stripe, white scale-like setae ("scales") around eyes, sparse white setae on  front of OQ and  clypeus; clypeus about 1/5 diameterofAME, with three long central setae, the longest (which curves upward) above a  shorter pair that project nearly horizontally; chelicerae and sternum dusky, endites, labium, and  tips of  chelicerae pale; chelicerae tiny (length slightly more than  half  diameter  ofAME) , two close-set pro  marginal teeth near fang tip, one retromarginal tooth closer to middle of fang, teeth very  tiny and hard  to see; palpi  pale translucent, with brown maculations on femur,  patella, and tibia, cymbium with white scales, tibial apophysis a short lobe, patella with long spatulate retrolateroventral apophysis and two short, triangular apophyses just distal and  on either  side oflonger apophysis, and  a row INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 15, No.3, September, 2001 of  a few long white setae  just  dorsad  oflong apophysis; embolus a retrolateral  spiral  with a proximal  embolar disk, tegulum pointed  proximally, sperm duct convo-luted; legs yellow, femora I & II with a brown prolat-eral maculation, femora III &  IV with two brown prolateral maculations, patellae with partial distal brown annulae, metatarsi similar to patellae but annulae faint; leg macrosetae: Leg I Tvlr-O; M v2-2; II T vlr-O; M vlr-lr; III F vO-lr-lr; T vlr-O, pO-I, rO-1; M vlp-2, pO-2, rO-2; IVFvO-lr-lr; Tvlr-O; M vlp-2, pO-2, rO-2; ventral  metatarsal  macro  setae about as long as metatarsus. Leg formula IV, III, I, II. Abdomen (Opisthosoma): Dorsally  a median  yellow stripe  between  two broad  brown stripes  which darken posteriorly, outside  of  which are a narrow white stripe each side covered with white iridescent scales, and outside that is a narrow brown band. No scutum. Venter  yellow. Anterior  spinnerets dusky  with yellow tips; posterior spinnerets in  horizontal  line, medians yellow, laterals dusky. Variation: The Brevard County male has the cara-pace completely dark  brown, is darker  overall, has  the broad abdominal  stripes nearly  obscuring  the  median stripe, and has some varicolored iridescence on the dark abdominal areas. Females: Ranges: CL 0.64-0.69, CW 0.48-0.51, BL 1.22-1.29. Similar  to male, thoracic area of  carapace red brown, brown maculations on legs larger and tending to coalesce, abdominal dorsum with  varicol-ored iridescence, venter of abdomen with gray U-shaped mark. Epigynum wider than long. 159 Biology: Fleming Key is an artificial limestone island adjacent  to Key West. At the  time  of  our  survey, the dominant  vegetation was mangrove and  Austra  -lian pine (Casuarina sp.). The Neonella specimens were  found in an  open area  within a ring  of  Australian pine trees. This area primarily  consisted of  a layer of Australian pine litter no more than one cm in depth on the  limestone. Several  other  species of  spiders were also found in the litter, including an assortment of oonopids and  theridiids. In  general, the spiders  were found on the limestone and decaying litter under-neath the litter  layer. The single specimen from Brevard County was found along the edge of a beach parking lot. It  was underneath native ground cover vegetation that  had grown over the edge of the par  king lot. Acknowledgments: Julieta Brambila brought the Brevard County record to  my attention.  This is Entomology Section Contribution #947, Bureau of Entomology, Nematology, and Plant  Pathology. Literature cited Galiano,  M. E. 1965. Descripcion de Neonella minu-ta sp. n.  (Araneae, Salticidae). Revista de la Sociedad Entomo16gicaArgentina27: 25-28. Galiano,M.  E. 1988. New species of  Neon  ella Gertsch, 1936  (Araneae,  Salticidae).  Revue  Suisse Zoologique 95: 439-448. Galiano, M.  E.  1998.  Description of three new species of  Neon  ella (Araneae, Salticidae). Journal of  Arachnology 26: 14-18. Gertsch, W.  J. 1936.  Further diagnoses of new American spiders. American  Museum N ovitates 852: 1-27. 

A new species of Neonella (Araneae: Salticidae) from southeast Florida

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