Papakula and Hesydrimorpha: how two spider genera were described from the same species collected from the same locality (Araneae: Pisauridae)

While identifying Pisauridae from Laos and checking various genera of this family from Southeast Asia, two monotypic genera were striking: Hesydrimorpha Strand 1911 and Papakula Strand 1911. Both were described by Strand (1911) from Eastern Indonesia and the type material was deposited in the Senckenberg Museum (SMF). They were recorded from the same island (Kobroor) and the same locality (Papakoela, Papakula). The labels and original descriptions state they were collected by H. Merton. Strand (1911) also mentioned in the publication that the specimens were collected in a house, most likely the same house, as Merton collected both series on the same day. When examining the female holotype of Hesydrimorpha gracilipes Strand 1911, the epigyne was already dissected but still connected with the opisthosoma. Many legs are missing or loose and the specimen is much faded, which is probably why Strand wrote that he could not provide a complete description for this species. He did not illustrate the epigyne, but provided a description of it along with somatic characters (Strand 1911). In contrast, copulatory organs of the male and female syntypes of Papakula niveopunctata Strand 1911, which are both still in a good state of preservation, were illustrated (epigyne in ventral view, palp in ventral and dorsal view), but there was no written description of the male palp and the epigyne was only described in one short paragraph (basically, Strand wrote [translated from German]: “epigyne brown, with dark longitudinal bands”). After examining and drawing all three specimens available it was clear that all three were conspecific and, therefore, both type species and, thus, both genera were synonyms. In the present paper, types of both species are illustrated, and relationships of the genus Papakula are discussed.