Unmasking Josa Chazaliae (Simon, 1897) (Araneae: Anyphaenidae): New species and highest altitude record for a spider in South America
abstract
We examined the type series of Josa Chazaliae (Simon, 1897) from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. This type consists of three females of two different species. Here we propose a lectotype for Josa Chazaliae, redescribe the female, and describe the male of this species for the first time. A new species, Josa samaria sp. November, is proposed based on the female paralectotype of Josa Chazaliae. Three additional species (all based on sex) have been described: Josa nadineae sp. Nov., Josa berlandi sp. Nov., and Josa olimpica sp. Nov. All species studied in this study are among the most common in the world. It lives in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a high coastal mountain range. We compared our geographic data with spider records available at GBIF, the MACN-Ar database, and unpublished records of described Josa species. The results showed that the presence of Josa Olimpica at an altitude of 5,500+ is the highest record for a spider in South America, and clearly the highest record for a spider in the Western Hemisphere.
