Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão
Encyclopedia
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian zoologist who is considered the founder of Arachnology
Arachnology
Arachnology is the scientific study of spiders and related animals such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, collectively called arachnids. However, the study of ticks and mites is sometimes not included in arachnology, but is called Acarology...
in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, publishing 198 papers on the taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of Arachnida. He was also involved with education, writing high-school textbooks, and contributed to biogeography
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
, with essays on the distribution of Arachnida in the South American continent.
Biography
Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão was born on the Cajazeiras Farm, Campina Grande, ParaíbaParaíba
Paraíba Paraíba Paraíba (Tupi: pa'ra a'íba: "bad to navigation"; Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east...
state, Brazil, to Colonel Cândido Firmino and Jacunda de Mello-Leitão. He died in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil. His parents were subsistence farmers, and he had 15 brothers and sisters. He lived most of his childhood at the state of Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
. His first job as a zoologist (1913) was at the Escola Superior de Agricultura e Medicina Veterinária in Piraí, RJ, as a teacher of general Zoology and Systematics. In 1915, he published his first taxonomical paper, with descriptions of some genera and species of spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s from Brazil. He also produced much taxonomic information on the Opiliones
Opiliones
Opiliones are an order of arachnids commonly known as harvestmen. , over 6,400 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the real number of extant species may exceed 10,000. The order Opiliones can be divided into four suborders: Cyphophthalmi, Eupnoi, Dyspnoi and Laniatores...
, Solifugae
Solifugae
Solifugae are an order of Arachnida, known as camel spiders, wind scorpions and sun spiders or solifuges, comprising more than 1,000 described species in about 153 genera...
, Amblypygi, Uropygi, and smaller orders of arachnids. Mello-Leitão was appointed professor of Zoology at the Museu Nacional
Museu Nacional (Brazil)
The National Museum of Brazil is a centenarian museum and research institution, located in the Quinta da Boa Vista park in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.-History:...
, Rio de Janeiro in April 1931, where he remained until December 1937.
Among the many species of spiders researched and catalogued by the zoologist there is one in particular which is very intriguing, given its big size, beauty and carnivore habits (it is a bird eater) – the Lasiodora parahybana
Lasiodora parahybana
The Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula is a relatively large spider originating from northeastern Brazil, hence its common name. This spider typically grows to a leg span of 20 cm , although occasionally exceptional specimens can reach leg spans of 25 cm . Large females can...
. The species was discovered and first described in 1917 in the vicinities of the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba, from where it is endemic.
Mello-Leitão received many honor awards and was appointed or elected to distinguished positions during his career. He was president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded in 1916....
from 1943 to 1945.
On June 6, 1949, his friend Augusto Ruschi inaugurated the Museum of Biology Mello-Leitão in Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo (state).
The "Mello-Leitão Award" is granted by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
Contributions to the taxonomy of Arachnida
Below a list of species of spiders discovered, studied and named by the zoologist, as well as the date of discovered and the country where it they are found:- Avicularia ancylochiraAvicularia ancylochiraAvicularia ancylochira is a species of spider belonging to the family Theraphosidae ....
, 1923 — Brazil - Avicularia bicegoiAvicularia bicegoiAvicularia bicegoi is a species of large tarantulas of the genus Avicularia. These spiders may be frightening in appearance due to their large size , but they share the pacific behavioral traits of most of the Avicularia species...
, 1923 — Brazil - Avicularia cuminami, 1930 — Brazil
- Avicularia juruensis, 1923 — Brazil
- Avicularia nigrotaeniata, 1940 — Guyana
- Avicularia palmicola, 1945 — Brazil
- Avicularia pulchra, 1933 — Brazil
- Avicularia taunayi, 1920 — Brazil
- Iridopelma zorodes, 1926 — Brazil
- Catumiri argentinense, 1941 — Chile, Argentina
- Hemiercus proximus, 1923 — Brazil
- Tapinauchenius violaceus, 1930 — French Guiana, Brazil
- Acanthoscurria chiracantha, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria cunhae, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria gomesiana, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria juruenicola, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria melanotheria, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria parahybana, 1926 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria paulensis, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria rhodothele, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria rondoniae, 1923 — Brazil
- Acanthoscurria violacea, 1923 — Brazil
- Cyclosternum garbei, 1923 — Brazil
- Cyriocosmus fasciatus, 1930 — Brazil
- Cyrtopholis zorodes, 1923 — Brazil
- Eupalaestrus spinosissimus, 1923 — Brazil
- Grammostola inermis, 1941 — Argentina
- Grammostola porteri, 1936 — Chile
- Grammostola pulchraGrammostola pulchraGrammostola pulchra is a terrestrial tarantula native to Brazil. The species is desirable in the pet trade because of their females, long life and reputation for being docile and gentle in temperament, as well as for its appealing dark coloration. These traits make them rather expensive when buying...
, 1921 — Brazil - Hapalopus nigriventris, 1939 — Venezuela
- Hapalopus nondescriptus, 1926 — Brazil
- Hapalotremus cyclothorax, 1923 — Brazil
- Hapalotremus exilis, 1923 — Brazil
- Hapalotremus muticus, 1923 — Brazil
- Hapalotremus scintillans, 1929 — Brazil
- Homoeomma hirsutum, 1935 — Brazil
- Homoeomma montanum, 1923 — Brazil
- Homoeomma uruguayense, 1946 — Uruguay, Argentina
- Lasiodora acanthognatha, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora citharacantha, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora cristata, 1923 — Brazil
- Lasiodora cryptostigma, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora difficilis, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora dolichosterna, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora dulcicola, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora erythrocythara, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora fracta, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora itabunae, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora lakoi, 1943 — Brazil
- Lasiodora mariannae, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora parahybanaLasiodora parahybanaThe Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula is a relatively large spider originating from northeastern Brazil, hence its common name. This spider typically grows to a leg span of 20 cm , although occasionally exceptional specimens can reach leg spans of 25 cm . Large females can...
, 1917 — Brazil - Lasiodora pleoplectra, 1921 — Brazil
- Lasiodora sternalis, 1923 — Brazil
- Lasiodora subcanens, 1921 — Brazil
- Phormictopus australis, 1941 — Argentina
- Phormictopus ribeiroi, 1923 — Brazil
- Plesiopelma insulare, 1923 — Brazil
- Plesiopelma minense, 1943 — Brazil
- Plesiopelma physopus, 1926 — Brazil
- Plesiopelma rectimanum, 1923 — Brazil
- Proshapalopus anomalus, 1923 — Brazil
- Proshapalopus multicuspidatus, 1929 — Brazil
- Sericopelma fallax, 1923 — Brazil
- Vitalius dubius, 1923 — Brazil
- Vitalius roseus, 1923 — Brazil
- Vitalius sorocabae, 1923 — Brazil
- Vitalius vellutinus, 1923 — Brazil
- Vitalius wacketi, 1923 — Brazil