The orb-weaver genera Argiope, Gea, and Neogea from the Western Pacific Region (Araneae: Araneidae, Argiopinae)

Cha racte rs of the ma le, especia lly of the ma le pa lp us, a re useful for studying the p hylogen y of the Argiopinae. Members of the subfamily a re re la tively primitive Arane idae ; they a ppear more advanced tha n the Nephilinae, Me tinae, T e tragna thinae, and Cyrtophorinae, and less ad va nced tha n the Mastophorinae, Gaste racanthioae, and Ara ne inae. All ava ila ble types of Pacific and easte rn Asia n A rgiope species names have been examined. T he stud y was handicapped by Iack of m ales, which a re collected less often tha n the )a rge, showy fem ales. The subfamily Argiopinae coota ins three genera: A rgiope, Gea, and the ne"v N eogea. Neogea, with the type Amneu.s egregius, also contains Gea n octicolor. In the region, there are 49 species of A rgiope, 7 species of Gea, and 2 species of Neogea, m a ny of them wide ly distributed . The 12 ne w sp ecies a re Lhgiope dietrichae, A . katherina, A. kochi, A . masco rdi, A . rad on from Australia ; A . boesenbergi from Japan ; A . ponape and A . truk from the Caroline Islands; A. caledonia from 'e w Caledonia ; A . m anila from the P hilippines; A. thai from Thail and ; and Gea eff from Ie w Guinea. The generic na mes Au.strargiope, Coganargiope, M esargiope, M icra-rg iope, Cha etargiope, and Neargiope of Kishida and Brachygea Caporiacco are subjective sy nonyms of Argiope. Argiope aequ.ior and viabilio1· are oxyopids; au rea and sachalinen sis are Araneus; lepida is proba bly an Acusilas; leu.copicta is a Cyrtophora. Gea virg inis is a Leu cau.ge. There are 57 new synonymies.