Spiders of the genus Micaria are ground‐living mimics of ants. Species delineation in these spiders is challenging, mainly because of exceptional high levels of intraspecific variation masking species boundaries. As implied by preliminary DNA barcode data from Central Europe, the Holarctic and very widely distributed glossy ant‐spider M. pulicaria shows cryptic diversity. Here, we disentangle the hidden diversity by means of an integrative taxonomy approach, using mitochondrial DNA, morphometrics, traditional genitalic characters and ecology. Our data suggest the clear delineation of two distinct species, which supports the conception of 19th century taxonomists. These early naturalists distinguished M. pulicaria and a second closely related species based on morphology and natural history, which were synonymized in subsequent taxonomic studies. Therefore, we re‐circumscribe M. pulicaria and revalidate the long forgotten M. micans. These two Micaria species co‐occur sympatrically in vast areas of the western Palearctic, while the Nearctic region is populated by M. pulicaria alone. Male genitalic traits are more dissimilar in the area of sympatry than in allopatry, suggesting a decisive role of reproductive character displacement in species diversification. Our study emphasizes the value of the early taxonomic literature in integrative taxonomic studies, as it may contain crucial information on natural history that are not regularly recorded by modern taxonomists.

中文翻译：

---

模仿蚂蚁的云母蜘蛛（Araneae，Gnaphosidae）的隐秘多样性以及对早期博物学家的致敬

Micaria属的蜘蛛是蚂蚁的地面模拟物。这些蜘蛛的物种划分具有挑战性，主要是因为种内变异的异常高水平掩盖了物种边界。正如来自中欧的初步 DNA 条形码数据所暗示的那样，Holarctic 和非常广泛分布的光泽蚂蚁 M. pulicaria 显示出神秘的多样性。在这里，我们利用线粒体 DNA、形态测量学、传统生殖器特征和生态学，通过综合分类法来解开隐藏的多样性。我们的数据表明两个不同物种的清晰划分，这支持了 19 世纪分类学家的概念。这些早期的博物学家根据形态学和自然历史区分了 M. pulicaria 和第二个密切相关的物种，在随后的分类学研究中将它们同义。因此，我们重新限制了 M. pulicaria 并重新验证了长期被遗忘的 M. micans。这两种 Micaria 物种在古北西部的广大地区同时出现，而近北地区仅由 M. pulicaria 居住。雄性生殖器性状在同种性方面比在异种性方面更加不同，这表明生殖性状置换在物种多样化中起决定性作用。我们的研究强调了早期分类学文献在综合分类学研究中的价值，因为它可能包含现代分类学家没有定期记录的关于自然历史的重要信息。单独的蛹虫草。雄性生殖器性状在同种性方面比在异种性方面更加不同，这表明生殖性状置换在物种多样化中起决定性作用。我们的研究强调了早期分类学文献在综合分类学研究中的价值，因为它可能包含现代分类学家没有定期记录的关于自然历史的重要信息。单独的蛹虫草。雄性生殖器性状在同种性方面比在异种性方面更加不同，这表明生殖性状置换在物种多样化中起决定性作用。我们的研究强调了早期分类学文献在综合分类学研究中的价值，因为它可能包含现代分类学家没有定期记录的关于自然历史的重要信息。