ACANTHEPEIRA VENUSTA (BANKS) 
(ABANEHE) 1 
By Elizabeth B. Bryant 
Museum of Comparative Zoology 
Among the collection of spiders in the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology, several specimens including both sexes 
of Acanthepeira venusta (Banks), from various locali- 
ties in Florida, were identified. The male has never been 
recognized before, and as the original description was 
based on a female, a more complete description of both 
sexes with figures seems desirable. 
The genus Acanthepeira appears in the list of Arach- 
nida by Marx in Howard’s “List of the Invertebrate 
Fauna of South Carolina” 1883, used for the species 
Epeira stellata Walck., 1805. As Howard’s list is quite 
rare, it is not surprising that the Marx genus has been 
overlooked. In 1892, McCook proposed the genus Marxia 
for the same species, Epeira stellata Walck. The gen- 
eric description lists few structural characters and is 
based largely on the marginal tubercles of the abdomen 
and the width of the clypeus, characters that are shared 
by other genera of the family. So in 1904, F.O.P.-Cam- 
bridge redescribed the genus using more definite charac- 
ters. This definition has been generally accepted. In 
1941, Archer reinstated the generic name, Acanthepeira 
and it has also been recently used by Kaston in the 
“Spiders of Connecticut,” 1948. 
Acanthepeira venusta (Banks) 
Figures 1-5 
Plectana venusta Banks, 1896, p. 69. “? Florida; 
Punta Gorda. ” 
Female. Length, 6.0 mm., ceph. 3.0 mm. long, 2.2 mm. 
wide, abd. 4.2 mm. long without the anterior and pos- 
terior tubercles, 4.0 mm. wide. 
1 Published with a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 
Harvard College. 
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