On American 'Micromerys' and Metagonia (Araneae, Pholcidae), with notes on natural history and genital mechanics

Two American pholcids previously assigned to Micromerys Bradley are redescribed and transferred to Mefagonia: Me. conica (Simon, 1893) comb. n. (Venezuela), and Me. delicata (Cambridge, 1895) comb. n. (Central America). Two close relatives of Me. delicafa are newly described: Me. uvita sp. n. and Me. falamanca sp. n. (both from Costa Rica). The name Me. turrialba Gertsch. 1986 is synonymized with Me. rica Gertsch, 1986 (Costa Rica) which is redescribed. Four additional representatives of Metagonia are described as new: Me. reventazona sp. n. (Costa Rica, Panama), Me. toro sp. n. (Panama), Me. hitoy sp. n. and Me. hondura sp. n. (Costa Rica). Leptopholcus dalei (Petrunkevitch, 1929) from Puerto Rico, which was originally described as Micromerys dalei. is redescribed and its closeness to 'true' Old World Lepfopholcus is supported. Arguments are presented to justify the transfer of the American 'Micromerys' species to Metagonia. Notes on the natural history of Me. rica are presented, and a detailed account on copulation and genital mechanics is given as a basis for future comparison. © 1997 The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters