Five New Kleptoparasitic Spiders with Cláudia Xavier

Mysmenopsis is a tiny spider genus that has been shaped by women; women have collected, identified, and described the majority of members of the genus. In fact, Dr. Nadine Dupérré alone described 25 species, almost half of the genus’ known diversity. So it’s fitting, Cláudia Xavier explains, that her five new species are named after women, including Dupérré herself and Dr. Emilie Snethlage, whose position as director of the Museu Goeldi made her the first woman in South America to lead a scientific institution.

Mysmenopsids are tiny, kleptoparasitic spiders found across the Americas, particularly in northern South America. They are cryptic, their small size making it difficult to observe them, never mind dissect and study them. But that’s just what Cláudia and her coauthors did. In this interview she shares what it’s like studying spiders smaller than an apple seed - the good, the bad, and the painful! In her writing both in and out of the museum, Cláudia hopes to demystify spiders and bring more attention to their diversity.

Cláudia Xavier’s paper “On the symphytognathoid spider genus Mysmenopsis Simon, 1898 (Araneae: Mysmenidae) from the Brazilian Amazonian region: description of five new species and new records” is in issue 5219 off Zootaxa.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5319.1.4

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Cláudia Xavier - Transcript

New Species: Mysmenopsis rodriguesae, Mysmenopsis nadineae, Mysmenopsis snethlageae, Mysmenopsis lopardoae, Mysmenopsis regiae

Episode image courtesy of Cláudia Xavier

Follow Cláudia on Instagram or Twitter: @claudiia_xavier

Read Cláudia’s writing on Fauna News: https://faunanews.com.br/category/colunas/invertebrados/

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