Thyene mutica (Simon,1902) Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2022

Wesołowska, Wanda & Russell-Smith, Anthony, 2022, Jumping spiders from Ivory Coast collected by J. - C. Ledoux (Araneae, Salticidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 841 (1), pp. 1-143 : 120-121

Thyene mutica (Simon,1902) comb. nov.

Brancus muticus Simon, 1902b: 400 .

Brancus bevisi Lessert, 1925b: 356 , fig. 17.

Brancus muticus – Simon 1903a: 709, fig. 838. — Berland & Millot 1941: 332, fig. 34b. — Azarkina & Foord 2013: 169 , figs 18–35.

Brancus bevisi – Berland & Millot 1941: 331, figs 34c, 35d.

Material examined

IVORY COAST • 1 ♂; Lamto ; 17 Nov. 1975; “savane non-brulée aux environs de la station, branches”; MNHN .

Description

For both sexes see Azarkina & Foord (2013) sub Brancus muticus . The species is distinguishable by the characteristic pattern composed of five large patches on the eye field, especially clear in females (see Azarkina & Foord 2013: fig. 34).

Distribution

Previously recorded from Guinea, Nigeria, Congo and South Africa.

Synonymisation of genera

The analysis of the morphology and structure of the genitalia of both sexes of Brancus muticus (see Azarkina & Foord 2013), clearly indicates that this species is closely related to Thyene imperialis (Rossi, 1846) , type species of the genus Thyene Simon, 1885 . [Male and female of B. muticus collected together in Mozambique are also kept in the National Collection of Arachnida, Pretoria, RSA – examined.] So we transfer this species to Thyene . Since Brancus muticus was the type species of the genus, Brancus Simon, 1902 is a junior synonym of Thyene Simon, 1885 .

Comments

We suggest other Brancus spp. move to other genera, and for some of them (closely related) we create a new genus Vicirionessa gen. nov. (for description and composition see below). Thus, we propose the following new combinations: Hyllus nigeriensis ( Wesołowska & Edwards, 2012) comb. nov., Thyene blaisei (Simon, 1902) comb. nov., Thyene calebi (Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2018) comb. nov. and Thyene verdieri ( Berland & Millot, 1941) comb. nov.

The nominal species Brancus lacrimosus Wesołowska & Edwards, 2012 and Brancus mondoni Berland & Millot, 1941 are synonymized in this paper with Vicirionessa fuscimana gen. et comb. nov. and Malloneta guineensis respectively. Two species described from Kenya, namely Brancus hemmingi Caporiacco, 1949 and Brancus poecilus Caporiacco, 1949 have never been revised since their original description. These descriptions are insufficient to identify the species so their taxonomic position remains unclear.