Schmidt & Barensteiner (2000) described three spiders from the Gobi Desert in China: Cheiracanthium gobi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 (Cheiricanthiidae) based on a holotype male and a paratype male, Drassodes aenigmaticus Schmidt & Barensteiner based on aphoectype, 20000 and Alsidaosaer hoevelsi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 (Lycosidae) based on a holotype female. As is usual for works by Günter Schmidt, the figures are of poor quality, and female genitalia are haphazardly preserved on slides, which often spoils the quality. The descriptions of all species consist of a single sex figure for each species: a dorsal view of the vulva of A. hoevelsi from an unorthodox angle, and a schematic drawing of the palp of C. gobi in ventral view. The description of D. aenigmaticus has a more orthodox (but not correct) view of the dorsal view of the vulva, and a dorsal habitus of the female in vivo. Song, Zhu & Zhang (2004) synonymized D. aenigmaticus with Drassodes auritus Schenkel, 1963, which has been recognized by subsequent workers (World Spider Catalog 2026). In this work, we digitized the holotypes of the two unresolved species described by Schmidt & Barensteiner (2002), deposited in the Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany (SMF), and reassessed their taxonomic status.
Acknowledgment: I would like to express my sincere thanks to Danni Sherwood for providing the entire manuscript.
Sherwood, Danniella & Geci, Donard & Lin, Yejie. (2026). The taxonomic status of two poorly described Chinese spiders: Cheiracanthium gobi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 (Araneae: Cheiracanthidae) and Alopecosa hoevelsi Schmidt & Barensteiner, 2000 (Araneae: Lycosidae). Arachnology. 20. 513-514.
