The Vouched, the Unvouched, and a Digital Phantom: Four Spiders (Araneae) Published for, but Not Occurring in, Ireland
Abstract
The gnaphosid spider Zelotes subterraneus (C. L. Koch, 1833) is formally deleted from the Irish list. The names of three spider species recently published for Ireland would constitute the first Irish records; however, voucher specimens were not collected. Therefore, these species have not been safely shown to be established in Ireland and the names should not be included in an Irish checklist. One of the species is now mapped for Ireland in several digital datasets from two independent putative observations. The importance of robust filtering criteria to avoid such eventualities is noted.
