On the Collection of Thomisidae (Arachnida, Araneae) of Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ), Brazil

Resumen

The arachnid laboratory of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro is one of the oldest zoological research institutions in Brazil. It holds one of the most important collections of South America being depository of some of the most important Arachnological private collections such as those formerly amassed by Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão and Helia Eller Soares. The collection is deposited in a room with controlled humidity, temperature and light and the specimens are conserved in 75% alcohol within adequate vials. The lots are numbered, catalogued with the pertinent data registered in a MS Excel® spreadsheet (XLS format). Species of Thomisidae are listed in alphabetical order of genus regardless of the subfamilies they belong to. There is a total of 712 lots with more than 1700 specimens. The thomisid type collection contains 83 types registered in literature. Though the majority of the type lots is available for consulting there is still a significant part (25%) missing but none of them was considered lost. Martus Mello-Leitão1943 is considered a nomen nudum and Tmarus baptistai comb. nov, nom. novum is proposed as a replacement name for Martus albolineatus Mello-Leitão1943.