Species Maratus rainbowi (Roewer, 1951)

Maratus rainbowi (Roewer, 1951)

© Copyright Jurgen Otto, Sydney

Museums

Regional Maps

• Attus splendens Rainbow, W.J. 1896. Descriptions of some new Araneidae of New South Wales. No. 7. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 21: 628-633 [632, fig. 3] [junior homonym of Attus splendens Peckham & Peckham, 1883].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown ♂, Sydney.
• Saitis rainbowi Roewer, C.F. 1951. Neue Namen einiger Araneen-Arten. Abhandlungen Herausgegeben vom Naturwissenschaftlichen Verein zu Bremen 32: 437-456 [451] [nom. nov. for A. splendens Rainbow, 1896].

Generic Combinations

• Maratus rainbowi (Roewer, 1951). —
  Waldock, J.M. 2008. A new species of Maratus (Araneae: Salticidae) from southwestern Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 24: 369-373
• Maratus splendens (Rainbow, 1896). —
  Żabka, M. 1991. Studium taksonomiczno-zoogeograficzne nad Salticidae (Arachnida: Araneae) Australii. Wyzsza Szkola Rolniczo-Pedagogiczna W Siedlcach Rozprawa Naukowa 32: 1-110
  Otto, J.C. & Hill, D.E. 2011. An illustrated review of the known peacock spiders of the genus Maratus from Australia, with description of a new species (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae). Peckhamia 96.1: 1-27 [15]
• Saitis splendens. —
  Simon, E. 1901. Histoire naturelle des Araignées. Paris : Encyclopédie Rorét Vol. 2(3) pp. 381-668 figs 384-792.

Introduction

Recent use of the name 'splendens' has caused some controversy. Hill and Otto (2011) stated that 'Later still, Roewer (1951) changed the name of Rainbow's spider to Saitis rainbowi, presumably because of the status of Rainbow's splendens as a junior primary homonym. Although several recent, on-line catalogs (Platnick 2011; Proszyński 2011) have followed Roewer's replacement species-group name rainbowi, Żabka (1991) retained Rainbow's original name when he moved both pavonis and splendens into the genus Maratus Karsch 1878. Żabka's use of the original species-group name, splendens, is now justified by Article 23.9.5 of the current (2000) ICZN, which prohibits automatic (without a Commission ruling) replacement of a junior primary homonym when the respective names are not considered congeneric after 1899.'

However, this interpretation is over-ridden by the fact that under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Keen & Muller's (1948) revised edition of Schenk & Masters (1936)) following replacement of a homonym, that homonym is no longer available for future use (Articles 35 and 36). This holds despite the ruling under the ICZN (1999) that '……rules that are mandatory for current acts and new names must not upset actions taken by past generations operating under different, and less restrictive, nomenclatural rules and conventions.' Thus since 'rainbowi' was available at the time when Rower proposed it, it is still available; moreover, 'rainbowi' has been used in multiple catalogues. See also Girard et al (2021) for further discussion.

In their 2014 taxonomic publication on Maratus (Otto & Hill 2014 ), the authors state "[f]or purposes of stability, we continue to use Rainbow's splendens rather than Roewer's rainbowi. Both names are in use in the literature.

Application was made by D.E. Hill and J.C. Otto for the conservation of the name Attus splendens (BZN 69(2): 84; Case 3593). The case was not published and, following correspondence with the authors, the case was closed (BZN 74: 53 15 May 2017). As a consequence 'rainbowi' should be used rather than 'splendens'.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Vic, WA: NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA)

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Arthropod-feeder, carnivorous, litter, predator.

General References

De Angelis, D., Davis, H., Jenner, B. & de Jong, J. 2013. A colourful addition to the spider fauna of Victoria: the peacock spider Maratus splendens (Rainbow, 1896) (Araneae: Salticidae). The Victorian Naturalist 130(6): 224-231

Girard, M,B., Elias, D.O., Azevedo, G., Bi, K., Kasumovic, M., Waldock, J.M., Rosenblum, E. B. &Hedin, M. 2021. Phylogenomics of peacock spiders and their kin (Salticidae: Maratus, with implications for the evolution of male courtship displays. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 132: 471-494

Hill, D.E. & Otto, J.C. 2011. Visual display by male Maratus pavonis (Dunn 1947) and Maratus splendens (Rainbow 1896) (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae). Peckhamia 89.1: 1-41

Otto, J.C. & Hill, D.E. 2011. An illustrated review of the known peacock spiders of the genus Maratus from Australia, with description of a new species (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae). Peckhamia 96.1: 1-27 [15]

Otto, J.C. & Hill, D.E. 2012. Notes on Maratus Karsch 1878 and related jumping spiders from Australia, with five new species (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae). Peckhamia 103.1: 1-81

Otto, J.C. & Hill, D.E. 2014. Peacock spiders of the pavonis group from southern Australia (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae: Maratus). Peckhamia 117.1: 1-62 [50]

Otto, J.C. & Hill, D.E. 2017. Catalogue of the Australian peacock spiders (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryini: Maratus, Sataus). Peckhamia 148.1: 1-24 (includes a photo, distribution and diagnostic characteristics (as 'splendens').)

Otto, J.C. & Hill, D.E. 2021. Catalogue of the Australian peacock spiders (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryini: Maratus, version 4. Peckhamia 148.4: 1-35

Stavenga, D.G., Otto, J.C. & Wilts, B.D. 2017. Splendid coloration of the peacock spider Maratuse splendens. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 13: 20160437

Żabka, M. 1991. Studium taksonomiczno-zoogeograficzne nad Salticidae (Arachnida: Araneae) Australii. Wyzsza Szkola Rolniczo-Pedagogiczna W Siedlcach Rozprawa Naukowa 32: 1-110 [39] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement resurrects junior primary homonym splendens, contrary to Article 57.2)

Zhang, Jun-Xia & Maddison, W.P. 2013. Molecular phylogeny, divergence times and biogeography of spiders of the subfamily Euophryinae (Araneae: Salticidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68: 81-92

History of changes