The Andean genus
Priscula
Simon, 1893 includes the largest Neotropical pholcid
spiders, but due to their mostly cryptic lifestyle they remain poorly
collected and poorly studied. Nothing has been published about the
phylogeny and the biology of the genus.![]() ![]() We use a sample of approximately 26 species-level taxa, mostly from Ecuador and Venezuela, to propose a first hypothesis about relationships within the genus. Our data (mainly CO1) suggest the existence of five species groups, three of which are represented in Ecuador. . ![]() The cave-dwelling P. xxx (#1 in the graphs above) is only slightly troglomorphic (paler than usual; anterior median eyes strongly reduced or lost) but differs dramatically from forest-dwelling congeners in its biology: it produces the smallest known egg-sacs of all studied species (only 6–7 eggs; average in 15 other species: 42 eggs); but it produces the largest eggs relative to body size of all studied species. |