Fossil and extant species of the genus Leptopholcus in the Dominican Republic, with the first cases of egg‐parasitism in pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae)

Representatives of the pholcid spider genus Leptopholcus are extremely rare on the American mainland, but fairly common on the major Caribbean islands. Previously, four extant Caribbean species were known, each one endemic to one of the Greater Antilles. Here we describe the first fossil representative of the genus, Leptopholcus kiskeya Huber and Wunderlich n. sp., originating from Dominican amber about 20 million years old. Two new extant species from the Dominican Republic are also described, L. toma Huber n. sp. and L. baoruco Huber n. sp., and new records are given for the widely distributed L. hispaniola Huber, 2000. Egg‐parasitism by a wasp of the genus Baeus Haliday (Scelionidae, Baeini) is documented for L. baoruco and L. hispaniola. These are the first records of egg‐parasitism in Pholcidae, and the first Neotropical Baeus species to parasitize spiders other than Araneidae and Theridiidae.

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