New Species of Palpimanidae (Araneae) From the West Indies

Members of the family Palpimanidae have been reported from many parts of the vorld but the.number of genera and species remains small as compared to many other families of spiders.Five genera have long been recognized from the Western Hemisphere, as follows: Anisaedus Simon, I893 Compsopus TUllgren, I9O.5 Theringia Keyserling, I89I; Otiothops Macleay, 1839; and Palpi- manus Dufour, 182o.Species assigned to the genus Otiothops far outnumber the species belonging to the remaining four genera, taken in the Vestern Hemisphere, whereas species belonging to the genus Palpimanus have been described far more frequently than in any other genus in the Eastern Hemisphere.Apparently, only one species of A nisaedus has heretofore been de- scribed from the Western Hemisphere and that was collected in Ecuador.As far as I have been able to learn, up to the present time twelve species of Otiothops have been described from South America, Central America and the West Indies..Both sexes are now known for O. brevis Simon from Venezuela, O. macleayi Banks from Panama, O. walckenaeri MacLeay from Cuba.O. calcaratus Mello- Leito from Colombia is known only from the male.The eight remaining species are known only from females.1966] Chickeriny Palpimanidae :o9 spiders here in the /.[useum ot Comparative Zoology, I tound a vial containing what appears to be a male and a emale belonging to a new species ot the genus ,4nisaedus Simon, which has previously contained only one species trom the Western Hemisphere, z/.g'aujoni Simon, 893 from Ecuador.The label in the vial gives the locality ot col- lection as simply "Vest Indies."The writing appears to be that ot Miss Elizabeth Bryant, who was in charge, of the collection ot arachnids in this Museum or many years.In view ot the rarity ot spiders in this genus and atter some discussion with colleagues, the deci,sion has been made to describe these specimens as representing a new species in spite of the indefinite type locality.Types o.t the new species described in this paper will be deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.