Heteropoda robusta Fage, 1924

Kharkongor, Ilona Jacinta, Saikia, Uttam, Khynriam, Dimos & Saikia, Bhaskar, 2023, Current status of faunal diversity of Siju Cave, South Garo Hills, Meghalaya, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 123 (3), pp. 283-303 : 294

26. Heteropoda robusta Fage, 1924 [ Fig. 9I ]

1924. Heteropoda robusta Fage, Rec. Indian Mus. 26(1): 66.

Material examined: 4 ex. Siju Cave (~ 160-200m inside the Cave), Siju village , South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m, 12.xii.2018, coll. I. J. Kharkongor & party, Reg. No. IV /ARA/ERS-75 ; 1 ex. Siju Cave (~ 60-80m inside the Cave), Siju village , South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m, 3.i.2020, coll. I. J. Kharkongor & party, Reg. No. IV /ARA/ERS-76 ; 3 ex. Siju Cave (~ 1200m inside the Cave), Siju village , South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m, 19.iii.2019, coll. Uttam Saikia & party, Reg. No. IV /ARA/ERS-78 ; 3 ex. Siju Cave (~ 100-150m inside the Cave), Siju village , South Garo Hills District , Meghalaya, 25 o 21.061’N, 90 o 41.006’E, 119m, 19.iii.2019, coll. Uttam Saikia & party, Reg. No.IV / ARA/ERS-79 .

Remarks: Fage (1924) described Heteropoda robusta based on a female specimen collected from about 2400ft inside the Siju Cave. The male of the species is still unknown, as our report too is based on two specimens of adult females and three juveniles. Jäger (2005) when describing Heteropoda Fischer , a new cave-dwelling spider from the caves of Jaiñtia Hills in Meghalaya, had confined the distribution of H. robusta to the caves of the Garo Hills area of Meghalaya with H. fischeri dominating the caves in the Khasi and Jaiñtia Hills area of the State. The report of H. robusta from Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh by Sethi & Tikader (1988) is probably a case of misidentification (World Spider Catalog, 2020) as members of the species are largely cave-dwellers.

Figures

Figure 9. Fauna of Siju Cave. G. Cubaris cavernosus, H. Metassamia septemdentata, I. Heteropoda robusta, J. Typhloblatta caeca, K. Kempiola longipes and L. Tachys micraulax.