Diversity and endemism of pholcid spiders in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, with descriptions of four new species of the Atlantic Forest endemic genus Tupigea (Araneae: Pholcidae)

This study is based on an effort to collect all pholcid spider species at six localities in the Serra do Mar region of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. All but one locality produced 11-15 species. This is compared with published and unpublished species counts worldwide, showing that only six other localities are known to contain more than 10 species. From the 39 species collected at the Atlantic Forest sites, 22 are new, and 24 were found at only one site each. The two extreme (northern and southern) localities did not share any species, suggesting a high level of endemism and immense unknown species diversity. The dominant genera are Metagonia, Mesabolivar and Tupigea, with the last genus being endemic to the Atlantic Forest. The second part provides new general information on Tupigea, describes four new species (Tupigea angelim, T. penedo, T. ale, T. guapia), provides descriptions of the previously unknown females of T. teresopolis and T. maza, and presents the first scanning electron micrographs of T. cantareira.