Spiders from Pacific Islands — Marples 
Five species of Epeira were recorded from 
Samoa by Koch. Berland recorded three of 
them in 1929, one represented in his collec- 
tion by only a single specimen, and stated 
that E. maculaticeps appeared to be the most 
widespread species. As a result of four months 
collecting in 1945-46 and 1950-51 I obtained 
93 specimens from many localities in Upolu 
and off-lying islets, all of which appeared to 
be E. them. The present specimen corresponds 
with none of these species, and as far as I can 
determine it appears to be new. The name 
suggested is the Samoan word for ''dark,” 
with reference to the colour. 
Epeira theisi Walckenaer 
This is a widespread tropical species found 
in many Pacific islands. In the present collec- 
tion there are specimens from Tahiti, Raiatea, 
Borabora, Upolu, Savaii, and Viti Levu. 
SUMMARY 
A collection of some 40 species of spiders 
from the Society Islands, Aitutaki, Western 
Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji is described. Two 
new genera and four new species are proposed 
as follows: Salticidae, Savaiia punctata and 
Viti a albipalpis , Theridiidae, Theridion kraussi , 
395 
Epeiridae, Epeira pogisa. The male of Leucauge 
ilatele Marples is also described. There are 
many new distributional records, especially 
from Aitutaki, which has no previous records, 
and from Savaii and Viti Levu, which have 
few. 
REFERENCES 
Berland, L. 1929- Araignees (Araneida). IN 
Insects of Samoa, Pt. 8: 35-78. Brit. Mus. 
Nat. Hist. London. 
— 1934^. Les Araignees du Pacifique. 
IN Contribution a etude du peuplement 
zoologique et botanique des lies du Paci- 
fique. Soc. Biogeog ., Pub . 4: 155-180. 
1934A Les Araignees de Tahiti. Ber- 
nice P . Bishop Mus., Bui 113: 97-107. 
1938. Araignees des Nouvelles He- 
brides. Soc. Ent. de France , Ann. 107(2): 
121-190. 
D almas, R. de. 1917. Araignees de Nouvelle 
Zelande. Soc. Ent. de France , Ann. 86: 317— 
430. 
Koch, L., and E. Keyserling. 1871-1889. 
Die Arachniden Austr aliens. Nurnberg. 
Marples, B. J. 1955. Spiders from Western 
Samoa. Linn. Soc. London , Jour., Zool. 42: 
453-504. 
