TWO NEW SPECIES OF 
DICTYNIDAE (ARANEAE) FROM PANAMA 
By Arthur M. Chickering 
Albion College, Michigan 
As previously pointed out (Chickering, ’50), Petrunke- 
vitch (’25) was the first to report a dictynid ( M alios 
niveus 0. P. — Cambridge) from Panama. Gertsch (’46) 
reported a male of Dictyna meditata Gertsch from the Canal 
Zone Biological Area. This species is now known to be 
fairly common over much of that region of Panama where 
I have worked. Thallumetus dulcineus Gertsch was des- 
cribed in 1946 from a single male collected at El Volcan 
in February. In 1950 I described three species of dictynids 
as follows: Dictyna alyceae, D. donaldi, and Thallumetus 
pusillus. The first two were from Boquete, and the third 
was from the Canal Zone Biological Area. From my col- 
lection of 1950 I have selected two new species belonging 
to this family. These are described in the present paper 
in accord with my usual formula and under the following 
names: Dictyna lecta sp. nov., and Thallumetus pullus 
sp. nov. 
It is expected that the general state of our available 
knowledge on the Dictynidae of Panama and other parts 
of Central America will be made clear when a revision of 
the family is published by Dr. W. J. Gertsch, American 
Museum of Natural History, who is now engaged in this 
important study. 
This paper is the first of a series of publications dealing 
with the spider fauna of Panama depending in part or 
wholly upon collections made during my period of field 
work in various parts of this interesting country during the 
summer of 1950. This most recent of a series of visits to 
Panama was made possible through grants from the Pen- 
rose Fund of the American Philosophical Society and The 
Society of Sigma Xi. The descriptions were drawn up 
during the summer of 1951 while I enjoyed the many 
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