Poecilotylus varipes variety aequifemur (Hennig, 1934)
Ptilosphen varipes variety aequifemur Hennig, 1934: 320.
Remarks
Steyskal (1968) expressed the opinion that the specimens Hennig (1934) referred to as varipes, including Pt. varipes variety aequifemur, “are probably 1 or 2 species of Ptilosphen, for which the name aequifemur is available”. As noted above, the NHMUK specimens housed with the type of Pt. varipes and determined by Hennig as Pt. varipes belong in Poecilotylus, not Ptilosphen. Hennig used the name aequifemur for two female specimens from Venezuela in MLUH that he considered to differ from typical varipes only in that the middle femora have the same white distomedian rings as the hind limbs. According to Karla Schneider (email to S.A.M., May 2005), the only specimen of Pt. varipes in MLUH is determined as Pt. varipes by Hennig, but not as “variety aequifemur ”. Her photos of that specimen do not show distomedian rings on the mid femur, so it cannot be a type of Pt. varipes aequifemur. The two syntypes appear to be lost. There is no reason to consider aequifemur to be a Ptilosphen (as defined here) and it is here treated as a Poecilotylus and a probable synonym of Poecilotylus varipes. Colour of the mid and hind femora seems to be highly variable in this species.
Publication Date: 2026-05-26