Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay 1839
Creators: name: Prószyński, Jerzy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Salticidae
Myrmarachne
Myrmarachne melanocephala

description: Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 - type species of the genus and its synonyms   
 Five synonymy of this species were suggested by Edwards & Benjamin [2009: 2309: 5] based on body shape and color pattern of old and damaged specimens, on false assumption that there are no more similar looking species in tropical Asia. That assumption is falsified by their own misidentification of two different species from Sri Lanka, documented by drawings of epigyne (op. cit. f. 5A and B). Another proof of their overestimation of importance of body shape is an attempt to synonymize M. melanocephala with M. ramosa, disregarding striking differences in spermathecae of these species (Figs 45C 9 and 45C 10 in the present paper), numerous other cases of such peculiar blindness are shown in the file http://www.peckhamia.com/salticidae/Myrmarachninae_clas.html. It is unfortunate that they failed to document the very neotype specimen they have designating, merging its description with summary description of M. contracta and M. providens, documented only by useless photographs of their damaged bodies (op. cit. f. 1A-H). Other synonyms should be dismissed as insufficiently documented. Therefore:   
 Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (in part) = Myrmarachne albicrurata Badcock, 1918   
 (a synonym of M. ramosa, by Edmunds & Prószyński (2003: 301, f. 8-29) not of M.   
 melanocephala),   
 Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (in part) = Myrmarachne contracta (Karsch, 1880)   
(reinstated because of insufficient documentation by useless photographs, see Benjamin & Edwards  
2009: 6, f. 1D-H1, species inquirenda),  
 Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (in part) = Myrmarachne lateralis Badcock, 1918:   
 310, f. 9b (a synonym of M. ramosa, by Edwards & Prószyński (2003: 301, f. 8-29) not M.   
 melanocephala, an independent separate species – see below), Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (in part) = Myrmarachne providens Simon, 1901a: 500 (reinstated because of insufficient documentation by useless photographs, see Benjamin & Edwards 2009: 6, f. 1A-C, species inquirenda),   
 Myrmarachne melanocephala MacLeay, 1839 (in part) = Myrmarachne ramosa Badcock, 1918 (reinstated as misinterpretation of type specimen, see documentation of incompatible spermathecae of these species: Figs 45C 9 and 45C 10) (Benjamin & Edwards (2009: 5, 7 wrote that “…the type of M. ramosa has been compared with the neotype of M. melanocephala (by GBE) and found to be a junior synonym …” and commented that “the type species has been recently well illustrated” [by Edmunds & Prószyński (2003: 301, f. 8-29). Readers who care to compare Figs 45C 9 and 45C 10 are invited to draw their own conclusions!).   
 Other synonyms:   
 Myrmavola globosa (Wanless, 1978) = Toxeus globosus (Wanless, 1978) comb. n., (self-correction of the typing error, documentation - compare Figs 45D 1-6, 46H with 46I).   
 Group of genera LIGONIPEINES Prószyński, 2016 Figures 45 E-H, 46P-S Database contains 4 recognizable genera, 6 species   
 Type genus Ligonipes Karsch, 1878, of which type species is Ligonipes illustris Karsch, 1878.   
 Documentation studied. Survey of diagnostic drawings in Prószyński (2016a) and in original literature.
description: Published as part of Prószyński, Jerzy, 2017, Pragmatic classification of the World's Salticidae (Araneae), pp. 1-133 in Ecologica Montenegrina 12 on pages 100-101, DOI: 10.37828/em.2017.12.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13261220