Spiders are some of the most numerous animals on this planet after the insects. Their role in maintenance and stability of many ecosystems is pivotal both as predators and as prey. It is therefore always a pleasure to see a new identification guide published, especially when it covers an area for which there are no current publications. "The Spiders of Panama" then is a very useful publication despite its limitations.
The 1200 species of spider currently known from the area probably represents only about 60 percent of the species diversity existing there, even so it is a lot of species and it comes as know surprise to discover that this work does not attempt to offer identification to species level. The species catalogue lists all 1200 species but the keys only go as far as genera or sometimes only to family. The work is however greatly enhanced in my view by the addition of a largish introduction which supplies loads of interesting information on the Panamanian fauna.
The book is in 4 parts, the first part being the 91 page (8 chapter) introduction mentioned above. The 2nd part is chapter 9, the species catalogue giving information on the currently valid and invalid species and genus names, author, synonymies, references and localities within Panama. It says that valid species names are 'underlined' in the introduction (page 93), however I could find no underlined names anywhere in the book and suspect that it should have said italicised.
Section 3 (chapter 10) 'Key to families and to most genera of Panamanian spiders'. Given the limits of the current state of our knowledge of the Panamanian fauna both these sections should be regarded as provisional. Part 4 (chapter 11) is 22 pages of references followed by 300+ of the 350 b/w illustrations which grace this work. They include numerous habitus and genitalia drawings as well as other taxonomically useful illustrations referred to in the keys.
All in all an excellent book which will hopefully be seed from which in the fullness of time will grow other more comprehensive works. Highly Recommended
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