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Graellsia, 75(2): e092
julio-diciembre 2019
ISSN-L: 0367-5041
https://doi.org/10.3989/graellsia.2019.v75.237
Notas / Notes
First record of Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876) (Araneae, Araneidae)
from the Iberian Peninsula
Carlos Mora-Rubio1, Eduardo Morano2 & José Luis Pérez-Bote3
1Área de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, 06006, España, cmorarub@alumnos.unex.es,
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-3215
2DITEG Grupo de Investigación, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, España, emorano@gmail.com,
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1239-8370
3Área de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, 06006, España, jlperez@unex.es,
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4042-5391
ABSTRACT
Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1786) (Araneae, Araneidae) is reported for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula.
The specimen was captured on October 2018 in a holm-oak dehesa (Extremadura, Spain).
Key words: Neoscona byzanthina; Araneae; Araneidae; distribution; Iberian Peninsula.
RESUMEN
Primera cita de Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876) (Araneae, Araneidae) en la Península Ibérica
Se hace referencia a la primera observación de Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876) (Araneae, Araneidae)
de la Península Ibérica. El ejemplar fue capturado en octubre de 2018 en un encinar adehesado (Extremadura,
España).
Palabras clave: Neoscona byzanthina; Araneae; Araneidae; distribución; Península Ibérica.
Recibido/Received: 14/03/2019; Aceptado/Accepted: 12/06/2019; Publicado en línea/Published online: 12/07/2019
Cómo citar este artículo/Citation: Mora-Rubio, C., Morano, E. & Pérez-Bote, J. L. 2019. First record of Neoscona byzan-
thina (Pavesi, 1876) (Araneae, Araneidae) from the Iberian Peninsula. Graellsia, 75(2): e092. https://doi.org/10.3989/graell-
sia.2019.v75.237
Copyright: © 2019 SAM & CSIC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
The genus Neoscona Simon, 1864 is included in the
family Araneidae Clerck, 1757. Currently, the genus
includes 116 species with worldwide distribution
(World Spider Catalog, 2019). In Europe, the genus
Neoscona is represented by four species: Neoscona
adianta (Walckenaer, 1872), Neoscona byzanthina
(Pavesi, 1876), Neoscona subfusca (C.L. Koch, 1837)
and Neoscona tedgenica (Bakhvalov, 1978). While
N. adianta is abundant in all Europe and N. subfusca
is present in the southern region of Europe, the distri-
bution of N. byzanthina and N. tedgenica is restricted
to France and Turkey, and southern European Russia,
respectively. However, this last record has not been
confirmed. Thus, of these species only N. adianta and
N. subfusca have been reported to occur in the Iberian
Peninsula (Nentwig et al., 2019).
According to Levi (1993) and Levy (1998), females
of Neoscona differ from those in other genera by a
curved, spatula-shaped epigynum with fused scler-
ites. The color pattern and shape of the opisthosoma,
while reliable in one species, show great variation in
another. In the case of the species occurring in the
Iberian Peninsula, they can be easily distinguished:
N. adianta has an oval opisthosoma, while N. subfusca
2 Notas / Notes
Graellsia, 75(2), diciembre 2019, e092 — ISSN-L: 0367-5041 – https://doi.org/10.3989/graellsia.2019.v75.237
shows an angular opisthosoma. Nevertheless, there
has been a lot of controversy about the differentiation
of N. byzanthina since it was described independently
for the first time from Constantinople by Pavesi (1876)
and Simon (1879). Simon (1884) put both descrip-
tions in synonymy and later (Simon, 1929), pointed
out that N. byzanthina might be only a local variety
of N. adianta. The species was accepted in Bonnet´s
catalogue (Bonnet, 1955), whereas Roewer (1955)
considered that N. byzanthina is synonymous with
N. adianta. Since then, N. byzanthina was not cited
until Ledoux (2008) differentiated it from N. adianta.
According to this author, N. byzanthina individuals
are larger than N. adianta and the genitals size fol-
lows that difference in size between the two species.
Opisthosoma design is more variable in N. byzan-
thina than in N. adianta. However, the first elonga-
tions of the bands are a little bit larger in N. adianta.
In addition, the apical ends of the femurs are usually
darker in N. byzanthina (Simon, 1929), and the hook
of the epigynum has a triangular form in N. adianta,
whereas in N. byzanthina it is more elongated and
rounded. Also, the phenology of both species is dif-
ferent, since adults of N. adianta are frequent on June
and July and adults of N. byzanthina are frequent on
August and September.
The observations took place in late September and
early October 2018, about 2.5 kilometers southeast
from Olivenza (Badajoz, SW Iberian Peninsula).
We found 10 female individuals which presented a
dorsal abdominal pattern with discontinuous black
bands. In some specimens the pattern was trans-
formed into pairs of black and parallel points, each
doubled by lighter points that characterize the species
N. byzanthina (Fig. 1). In addition, a specimen was
collected and analyzed in order to confirm the identity
of the species. The result of the more detailed study
of the female collected confirmed its assignment
to N. byzanthina, following the criteria of Ledoux
(2008). Also, we discovered that the observation of
the epyginum structure in posterior view (Fig. 2) helps
and completes the diagnosis of the species. The lateral
pieces present in N. byzanthina are broader and longer
than in N. adianta, in which the pieces are shorter and
narrower, exposing the central area of the epigynum
(Levy, 1998).
Material exaMined
1 ♀. Olivenza, Badajoz. 05/10/2018. UTM X: 667821,77. UTM
Y: 4282339,45. Alt. 272 m. Open holm-oak dehesa. Carlos Mora-
Rubio. 2018.
Thus, we provide the first data about the presence
of N. byzanthina in the Iberian Peninsula. The habi-
tat corresponds to an open holm-oak dehesa (a typical
Mediterranean agro-forestry-pastoral ecosystem) of
Quercus rotundifolia Lam., with a low load of bovine
Fig. 1.—Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876). Dorsal view.
Fig. 1.—Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876). Vista dorsal.
Fig. 2.—Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876). Epyginum
(posterior view).
Fig. 2.—Neoscona byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876). Epyginum (vista
posterior).
Notas / Notes 3
Graellsia, 75(2), diciembre 2019, e092 — ISSN-L: 0367-5041 – https://doi.org/10.3989/graellsia.2019.v75.237
cattle (Datum: ETRS89; UTM X: 667821,77; UTM Y:
4282339,45; alt: 272 m) (Fig. 3).The specimens were
sharing habitat with other araneids such as Argiope
lobata (Pallas, 1772), an abundant species in the area;
as well as Argiope trifasciata (Forskål, 1775), with a
significantly lower occurrence (Mora-Rubio, 2018),
and Cyrtophora citricola (Forskål, 1775), a frequent
species in bushy holm-oaks. Unlike A. lobata, which
appears in areas of greater density of scrubs and trees
(since this araneid uses the lowest branches of the
small holm-oaks as anchoring substrate of its web),
N. byzanthina was only located on areas with a pre-
dominance of herbaceous plants, which were always
used as the substratum for the elaboration of their
web. In contrast to individuals observed by Ledoux
(2008), which were located in humid areas because of
the proximity of the sea, the climatic conditions of our
study area are very different, characterized by long
and dry summers with scarce rainfall.
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Fig. 3.— Habitat of N. byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876). Olivenza,
Badajoz.
Fig. 3.— Hábitat of N. byzanthina (Pavesi, 1876). Olivenza,
Badajoz.
