Micrathena undetermined

Magalhães, Ivan L. F. & Santos, Adalberto J., 2012, Phylogenetic analysis of Micrathena and Chaetacis spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) reveals multiple origins of extreme sexual size dimorphism and long abdominal spines, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (5), pp. 14-53 : 26

MICRATHENA SPECIES GROUPS

Most Micrathena species groups proposed by Levi (1985) are monophyletic in our analyses, with some important exceptions. Levi (1985) suggested that the M. spinosa group might be a subgroup of the M. militaris group, a view confirmed by our results. The M. guerini and M. kirbyi groups were not clearly defined by Levi (1985). As a matter of fact, the author did not provide a single characteristic to tell males from these two groups apart, providing a single key for the males of both groups. This is reflected in the fact that, in our analyses, they were recovered as not mutually monophyletic. We propose some nomenclatural changes, especially concerning Chaetacis and Micrathena of the M. kirbyi , M. spinosa , and M. guerini groups. These are discussed in detail in the Taxonomy section (see below).