Micrathena plana ( C. L. Koch, 1836 )

Magalhães, Ivan L. F. & Santos, Adalberto J., 2011, Two new species and taxonomic notes on the Neotropical spiny orb-weaving spiders Micrathena and Chaetacis (Araneae: Araneidae), with remarks on the development of Micrathena excavata, Zootaxa 2983, pp. 39-56 : 48

Micrathena plana ( C. L. Koch, 1836)

Acrosoma planum C.L. Koch, 1836: 81 , fig. 228. Female holotype from Brazil, deposited in Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich, destroyed.

Micrathena plana, Levi 1985: 509 , figs. 311–325; Platnick 2011 (complete synonymic list).

Micrathena ornata Mello-Leitão, 1932: 86 , fig. 4. Female holotype from Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [22º53’S 43º5’W, 5m ASL], deposited in MNRJ 18276, examined. Levi 1985: 546, figs. 521–524. NEW SYNONYMY.

Synonymy. The type of M. ornata was examined by H.W. Levi some time before he started his revision of the genus ( Levi 1985). He did not illustrate the carapace of the specimen in lateral view and thought it to be dome-shaped, when it is actually sculptured, with a high thorax. Thus it was inadequately placed in the triangularispinosa group. When Levi redescribed M. plana , he did not realize it was the same species as M. ornata , which is known only from the holotype, and did not account for the synonymy. It can be clearly seen, both from the specimen and from Levi’s illustrations, that M. ornata possess the convex transverse bar, small epigynal lobe and abdominal spine pattern that diagnose M. plana .