Cybaeota Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933

Marusik, Yuri M., Omelko, Mikhail M. & Koponen, Seppo, 2020, On two enigmatic spiders (Araneae: Cybaeidae & Phrurolithidae) from the Russian Far East, Zootaxa 4899 (1), pp. 247-258 : 248

Cybaeota Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933

Cybaeota Chamberlin & Ivie, 1933: 3 ; Lehtinen 1967: 226; Roth & Brame 1972: 17; Bennett 1988: 105.

Type species. Liocranum calcaratum Emerton, 1911 .

Diagnosis. This genus differs from other genera placed in Cybaeidae by the habitus, spination, and the bases of the ventral leg spines with a locking mechanism (see Bennett 1988: 105), like in Zora C.L. Koch, 1847 (Miturgidae) and some phrurolithids ( Otacilia , Phrurolithus ), amongst others. Regarding the shape of the copulatory organs, it is most similar to Calymmaria Chamberlin & Ivie, 1937 from the Nearctic Region by having a very similar male palp, with a short embolus directed posteriorly, and a similar two-armed conductor directed retrolaterally having a stem directed posteriorly, and an epigyne with globular receptacles. Cybaeota can be distinguished from Calymmaria by the generally smaller size (ca 2 mm, vs. 2–10 mm), by the more numerous tibial spines on leg I (5 pairs vs. 2), the epigyne lacking long copulatory ducts (shorter than the radius of receptacle vs. longer), and by the more closely spaced receptacles (less than one radius vs. more). The male palps are almost indistinguishable.

Description. See Bennett (1988).

Composition. The genus comprises five species, including the new one described in this paper.

Distribution. Until our discovery, Cybaeota was known exclusively from the Nearctic, from Alaska to Newfoundland and south to southernmost California ( WSC 2020). Our record extends the genus range to the southeastern Palaearctic.

Comments. Judging from the similarity between the copulatory organs in Calymmaria and Cybaeota mentioned in the diagnosis, and dissimilarity with other Cybaeinae and Cybaeidae , these two genera may deserve status of a separate taxon of the family group name rank.