Ochyrocera Simon, 1892

Pérez-González, Abel & Magalhaes, Ivan L. F., 2025, On Antillean ochyroceratines (Scytodoidea: Ochyroceratidae: Ochyroceratinae), with the description of three new species from Cuba, Zootaxa 5563 (1), pp. 264-289 : 266-267

Ochyrocera Simon, 1892

Pandeus Keyserling 1891: 167 . Type species: Pandeus coeruleus Keyserling 1891: 168 , by monotypy. First synonymized with Ochyrocera by Simon 1895: 1068. Nomen oblitum.

Ochyrocera Simon 1892: 565 . Type species: Ochyrocera arietina Simon, 1892 , by subsequent designation of Simon 1893: 285. Nomen protectum.

Ceruleocera Marples 1955: 462 . Type species: Ceruleocera ransfordi Marples 1955: 462 , by original designation. First synonymized by Brignoli 1979: 598.

† Arachnolithulus Wunderlich 1988: 62 . Type species: Arachnolithulus pygmaeus Wunderlich 1988: 63 , by original designation. Syn. nov.

Fageicera Dumitrescu & Georgescu 1992: 143 . Type species: Fageicera cubana Dumitrescu & Georgescu, 1992: 144 , by original designation. Syn. nov.

Remarks. Pandeus was established by Keyserling (1891) for a Brazilian species, and Ochyrocera was established by Simon (1892) for a Lesser Antillean species. Simon’s work was scheduled to be published on November 17, 1891, and thus nearly simultaneously with that of Keyserling. However, Simon’s paper was not published until April 1892 (see Duncan 1937). We are unaware of any evidence indicating that Keyserling’s work was published after 1891 and thus we consider December 31st of 1891 as its publication date, according to ICZN Article 21.2. Consequently, the name Pandeus has priority over Ochyrocera . However, Pandeus was, very early, considered a junior synonym of Ochyrocera by Simon (1895: 1068). This decision was followed in the first revision of the family ( Fage 1912), by all subsequent catalogs (e.g., Petrunkevitch 1911; Bonnet 1958; WSC 2024 etc.), and by all recent authors working on the taxonomy of the family (see a list of publications below). Bonnet (1958: 3122) argued that “it could be that Keyserling's term [referring to Pandeus ] is a few weeks earlier than Simon's [referring to Ochyrocera ], but, even if the demonstration were made, I do not advise today, for this reason alone, to reject Ochyrocera , which has been widely used until now.”. Still, we are confronted with the fact that Pandeus is the older name. However, we here argue that the younger Ochyrocera must be retained as the valid name as a nomen protectum, as it fulfills both conditions of ICZN Article 23.9 that warrant a reversal of precedence:

(1) Pandeus has never been used as a valid name after Simon (1895) synonymized it. Mentions of this genus by subsequent authors (e.g., Brignoli 1979; Pérez-González et al. 2016; Brescovit et al. 2018) only indicate its synonymy with Ochyrocera and refer to its availability as a generic name in the eventual case that Ochyrocera should be split.

(2) The younger Ochyrocera has been used as a “presumed valid name, in at least 25 works, published by at least 10 authors in the immediately preceding 50 years and encompassing a span of not less than 10 years”. This is evidenced by the following 34 publications, made by 26 different first authors (94 different authors in total) in the preceding 46 years, all of which mention Ochyrocera at least once: Baert 2014; Baptista et al. 2008; Brescovit et al. 2018, 2021 a, 2021b; Brignoli 1978, 1979; Cabra-García et al. 2010; Castanheira et al. 2019; De los Santos & Carrero Jiménez 2015; Dumitrescu & Georgescu 1992; Dupérré 2015, 2023; Emerit & Lopez 1985; González-Sponga 2001; Hormiga et al. 2007; Huber 2004; Král et al. 2006; Kulkarni et al. 2023; Labarque et al. 2018; Li et al. 2020; Lopez & Lopez 1997; Magalhaes et al. 2019, 2021, 2022; Michalik et al. 2019; Penney 2008; Pérez-González et al. 2016; Ramírez et al. 2023; Ribera 1978; Valdez-Mondragón & Chamé-Vázquez 2023; Valdez-Mondragón 2009, 2017, and Wheeler et al. 2017.

We thus proposed the older name Pandeus as a nomen oblitum and the younger but valid Ochyrocera name as a nomen protectum. It should be noted that Pandeus remains available and could be restored in the case the two genera are no longer considered subjective synonyms.

Species included: Ochyrocera aragogue Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. arietina Simon , O. atlachnacha Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. bicolor González-Sponga , O. brumadinho Brescovit & Cizauskas , O. cachote Hormiga, Álvarez-Padilla & Benjamin , O. caeruleoamethystina Lopez & Lopez , O. callaina Dupérré , O. cashcatotoras Dupérré , O. charlotte Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. chiapas Valdez-Mondragón , O. coerulea (Keyserling) , O. coffeeicola González-Sponga , O. cornuta Mello-Leitão , O. corozalensis González-Sponga , O. cubana (Dumitrescu & Georgescu) comb. nov., O. diablo Pérez-González, Rubio & Ramírez , O. dorinha Brescovit, Zampaulo, Pedroso & Cizauskas , O. fagei Brignoli , O. formosa Gertsch , O. garayae Castanheira, Pérez-González, Prado & Baptista , O. hamadryas Brignoli , O. ibitipoca Baptista, González & Tourinho , O. italoi Dupérré , O. itatinga Castanheira, Pérez-González, Prado & Baptista , O. janthinipes Simon , O. jarocha Valdez-Mondragón , O. juquila Valdez-Mondragón , O. laracna Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. loma (Dumitrescu & Georgescu) comb. nov., † O. longipes (Wunderlich) comb. nov., O. losrios Dupérré , O. luisarmasi sp. nov., O. machadoi (Gertsch) , O. maestra sp. nov., O. magali Brescovit, Zampaulo, Pedroso & Cizauskas , O. marialuisae Valdez-Mondragón & Chamé-Vázquez , O. matarredondensis (Cuervo & Buitrago) comb. nov., O. mayabeque sp. nov., O. minima González-Sponga , O. minotaure Dupérré , O. misspider Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. monica Brescovit, Zampaulo, Pedroso & Cizauskas , O. nasuta (Dumitrescu & Georgescu) comb. nov., O. oblita Fage , O. otonga Dupérré , O. peruana Ribera , O. pojoj Valdez-Mondragón , † O. pygmaeus (Wunderlich) comb. nov., O. quinquevittata Simon , O. ransfordi (Marples) , O. rinocerotos Dupérré , O. ritxoco Brescovit, Zampaulo & Cizauskas , O. ritxoo Brescovit, Zampaulo & Cizauskas , O. rosinha Brescovit, Zampaulo, Pedroso & Cizauskas , O. sandovalae Baert , O. simoni O. Pickard-Cambridge , O. subparamera González-Sponga , O. thibaudi Emerit & Lopez , O. tinocoi Castanheira, Pérez-González, Prado & Baptista O. ungoliant Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. varys Brescovit, Cizauskas & Mota , O. vesiculifera Simon , O. viridissima Brignoli , O. zabaleta Dupérré , and O. zamora Baert.

Distribution: Neotropical Region, Mexican transition zone, and Pacific: Samoa and Fiji.