Araneus mortoni (Urquhart, 1891)

W. Framenau, Volker, 2019, Generic and family transfers, and numina dubia for orb-weaving spiders (Araneae, Araneidae) in the Australasian, Oriental and Pacific regions, Evolutionary Systematics 3 (1), pp. 1-27 : 16

Araneus mortoni (Urquhart, 1891)

Epeira mortoni Urquhart, 1891: 236-237, fig. 1.

Aranea mortoni (Urquhart). Roewer 1942: 830.

Type material.

Holotype of Epeira mortoni Urquhart, 1891: female, Tasmania [no exact locality, AUSTRALIA] (whereabouts unknown).

Remarks.

The holotype female of Epeira mortoni seems be lost. The description suggests close affinities with either Plebs eburnus or P. bradleyi (Keyserling, 1887) (both of which, in addition to a P. patricius Joseph & Framenau, 2012, occur in Tasmania ( Joseph and Framenau 2012)), but neither of these species can be confirmed as a synonym of A. mortoni with certainty. In addition, none of the copies of the volume that I was able to study contained the figure plate, which, as figure 1, was supposed to show the epigyne of this species. Not being able to undoubtedly identify this species based on the original description alone, I consider the species-group name Epeira mortoni a nomen dubium.