E. B. Bryant.
The Genotype of Mimetus Hentz.
Psyche 53:48-49, 1946.

Full text (searchable PDF, 1080K)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/53/53-048.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

afrikas. There are now six more species recorded from South Africa and two palaearctic species from Europe and Siberia. Although up to the time of writing, the genus Apolysis has not been recognized as found in America, I have in press for pub- lication in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America a tabulation of nine species? eight of which are new, which oc- cur in Southern and Lower Ca1ifornia.l The recent American species are small, ranging from 0.75 to 3 mm.? hence the name selected for the large Tertiary species, wzagister, Latin, the leader of his tribe.
Since published in vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 451-495 DESCRIPTION or PIATE 11
Fig. I, Leptogast~r prior, n.sp. (X6) ; 2, -4silus cu~cdionis, nsp. (X4.4) ; 3, ApoZysis magister, n.sp. (X6)
Some time ago, Mr. Banks called my attention to a curious mistake in the selection of the genotype of the genus Mimetus Hentz, a well known genus of spiders.
The genus of Mimetus was erected by Hentz in 1832, in an article "On North American Spiders'' in Silliman7s Journ. Sci. . Arts, 21, pp. 99-152. The article is reprinted in the collected papers of Hentz in 187S7 in the Occ. Pap. Boston SOC. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, pp. 1-15. This is the edition usually used. In the 1832 article? Hentz mentions but one species, Mimetus syllepsicus and of this he had only one specimen which he found in the web of Eperia labyrinthea.
In the paper of 18507 Journ. Boston SOC. Nat. Hist.? pp. 18-35, Hentz redefines the genus and describes three species, M. inter- jector, M. tuberosus and M. syllepsicus. The first species, M. interjector, has been recognized as the genotype and the other two have been considered as synonyms. But by the generally accepted rules of taxonomy, the single species used at the time the genus was defined, automatically becomes the genotype, so if this rule is followed the genotype of Mimetus is syllepsicus Hentz. - E. B. BRYANT




================================================================================




================================================================================