A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES of Ground spider family Gnaphosidae was discovered in the desert of Central Asia by Hostos Community College Professor Vladimir Ovtcharenko. A well-known expert in spider taxonomy, Professor Ovtcharenko has been working with spiders for more than thirty years and is the author of more than sixty research articles. He has also given presentations at six International Arachnological Conferences, many European Arachnological Colloquia, and annual meetings of the American Arachnological Society. In 1992, he was elected as a Vice President of the International Society of Arachnology. A world traveler, Professor Ovtcharenko has collected spiders on six continents. His discovery will be named Hostosinia Eugenia in honor of Eugenio María de Hostos.
In science, the binomial system is used in the classification of organisms. Every time that a new species is discovered, the organism receives a new name consisting of two Latin words. The first name (always capitalized) is the genus of the organism (Hostosinia) and the second (not capitalized) is its species (eugenia).
These days, it is not common to describe new species of organisms but to identify a new genus is even more unusual.
Because Professor Vladimir Ovtcharenko used this spider to describe the new genus, it will become the type species as it defines the new genus, as well as the species holotype as it defines a new species. Therefore, Hostosinia eugenia is doubly important in the scientific world. Moreover, this spider and Vladimir will be linked together as Hostosinia Eugenia Ovtcharenko 2009.