After
revisions of the major Central African pholcid taxa (Pholcus,
Smeringopina,
Smeringopus),
this paper describes a few further species and summarizes current
knowledge about Central African pholcids. The area studied is the Lower
Guinean subregion of the Guineo-Congolian rainforests. This includes
all of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and São Tomé and
Príncipe, most of Cameroon and Congo Republic, and parts of the
neighboring countries. The emphasis, however, is on Gabon and
Cameroon, as a large part of the material studied herein was collected
during expeditions to to these countries in 2009 and 2011 (see Cameroon; Gabon)
Distribution and diversity patterns are compared with data on West and
East Africa. While West Africa contains a similar set of genera it is
significantly less diverse than Central Africa. East Africa is
taxonomically more distinct. It has similar levels of diversity as
Central Africa, but appears to be less undersampled.
Biogeographically,
the area considered is roughly limited by the Cross River Gap in the
west and the Sangha River Gap in the east. The drawings show the male
palps of a new Pholcus species
from Gabon.
|