Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 05-08-2009 20:44
#1
I have found this beauty. Undoubtely! Well, this spider belongs to the Eresidae spider family. This spider is native to Europe. Also this spider was formerly known as Eresus niger, now it is a synonym with Eresus cinnabirenus... but the things are even more complex!
The taxon "Eresus cinnaberinus" is considered a nomen dubium. So there are proposals that the specimens should be divided into the species Eresus kollari, Eresus sandaliatus and Eresus moravicus. There is, at the moment, a revision ot these species by Milan Řezáč, Stano Pekár and Jes Johannesen. I have one pdf (for those who are interested you can contact me through my gmail account at jorgemotalmeida) concerning a preliminar study on these beauties. You are seeing an Eresus kollari male. Females in this family are not so colourful as the males.
Řezáč, M.; Pekár, S. & Johannesen, J. (2008): Taxonomic review and phylogenetic analysis of central European Eresus species (Araneae: Eresidae). Zoologica Scripta 37: 263-287. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00328.x
Enjoy!