The South American Castianeirinae. I. The Genus Psellocoptus (Araneae: Clubionidae)

The Castianeirinae is a gro.up of ground running spiders many of whom mimic ants or mutillid wasps.The subfamily is world-wide and predominantly tropical with a great abundance of species in the Neotropical Region.The North and Central American repre- sentatives were recently studied (Reiskind, 969) and this paper represents the first portion of a revision of the South American tauna.The genus Psellocoptus was based on a single species, Psellocoptus yfavostriatus Simon, found in the Cordillera de la Costa. in northern Venezuela.This bizarre and distinct genus has been reported as a "beautiful and large, species from the ore:sts of Venezuela which (is) found running rapidly on the trunks on trees" (Simon, 1897).Collections rom Rancho Grande reveal two sympatric species, and comparison with the type specimens, from nearby Colonia Tovar indicate that there exist at least three species of Psellocoptus.The general form and characteristics of this genus make it quite distinct trom any other genus whereas the three species are very similar to one another.The genus probably originated as an isolate