The bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora lAraneaec Araneidaer

Of 48 species of bolas spiders {Mastophora) found in the Americas, 22 are new. Of that number, nine new species and six previously kno\\ai species are North American. The North American Mastophora bisaccata is a group of species of similar appearance. We can expect additional finds of new species of these rare and specialized spiders. The species range from NewHampshire in the United States to central Argentina. No species are known from tropical Amazon or the northwestern states of the United States. The greatest abundance of species is in warm temperate areas of southeastern North America and southern Brazil and northern Argentina. Agatostichtis is synonymized \\'ith Mastophora. Within this paper, Ibarra and Jimenez describe a new species from Chiapas and Texas. Evidence from palpal moi"phology indicates a relationship of Kaira with Taczanoivskia and Mastophora, suggesting that insect attractants may have evolved only once. Epeiroides fasciolata, erroneously placed in Mastophora, is a Kaira, the male of Kaira altiventer The related Asian genus Euglijptila is synonymized with