Nesticella Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980

Grall, Elena & Jäger, Peter, 2016, Four new species of the spider genus Nesticella Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and the first description of the male of Nesticella yui Wunderlich & Song, 1995 with a proposed new diagnostic character for the family Nesticidae Simon, 1894 (Arachnida, Araneae), Zootaxa 4085 (2) : -

Genus Nesticella Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980

Type species. Nesticella nepalensis ( Hubert, 1973)

Diagnosis. Males of Nesticella are similar to those of Eidmannella Roewer, 1935 and Carpathonesticus Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 in having a paracymbium nearly half as long as the cymbium but can be distinguished by the shape of the paracymbium (in Nesticella divided in ventral and dorsal branch with few rounded processes, both branches of similar length; in Eidmannella with one branch, apical with weak spurs; in Carpathonesticus ventral branch much shorter than dorsal branch, dorsal branch smooth and pointed, both branches without processes). Nesticella females are similar to those of Carpathonesticus , Pseudonesticus Liu & Li, 2013 and Wraios Ballarin & Li, 2015 in having round receptacula which are situated apically, widely separated from each other and diverging anteriorly but can be distinguished from Carpathonesticus by having copulatory ducts with windings (in Carpathonesticus copulatory ducts more or less straight) and having the fertilization ducts situated basally (fertilization ducts situated apically in Carpathonesticus ), from Pseudonesticus by having the copulatory ducts situated basally (medially in Pseudonesticus ) and fertilization ducts visible in dorsal view (not visible in dorsal view in Pseudonesticus ) and from Wraios by the absence of an epigynal plate (present in Wraios ) and the absence of membranous seams of the windings of the copulatory ducts (present in Wraios ).

In addition, Nesticella shows sexual dimorphism in the leg setae. Male spiders exhibit three sorts of setae: long and strong setae (tactile setae), long and fine setae (trichobothria, chemosensitive setae) and short, fine setae (“pipette setae” after Foelix, personal communication; Figs 33–39 ). Females have only the first two types of setae. This character was not known to the authors before and was not found in any reference concerning Nesticidae . It might prove as diagnostic character for the entire family ( Nesticella , Nesticus Thorell, 1869 , Eidmannella Roewer, 1935 , Wraios Ballarin & Li, 2015 , Pseudonesticus Liu & Li, 2013 and Carpathonesticus Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 checked so far).

Distribution. Americas ( Brazil), Hawaii, Africa ( Angola, Congo, Seychelles, St. Helena, Zimbabwe), Europe ( Germany, Poland: introduced), Asia ( Azerbaijan, China, Indonesia, Japan, Java, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam), and Australia (New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Queensland, Fiji) ( World Spider Catalog 2015).

The following three species show a strong similarity in their male and female copulatory organs (narrow embolus, conductor running in opposite direction to embolus, i.e. proximad, and extending in proximal half of bulb in males; coils in functional receptaculum wound around axis more or less parallel to body length axis in females). We treat them here sequentially, without erecting a species group. Other species with similar copulatory organs are: N. aelleni (Brignoli, 1972) , N. apiculata Liu & Li, 2013 , N. arcuata Liu & Li, 2013 , N. falcata Liu & Li, 2013 , N. gracilenta Liu & Li, 2013 , N. connectens Wunderlich, 1995 , N. marapu Benjamin, 2004 , N. mogera (Yaginuma, 1972) , N. nepalensis ( Hubert, 1973) , N. robinsoni Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 , N. semicircularis Liu & Li, 2013 , N. shanlinensis Liu & Li, 2013 , N. taurama Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 and N. verticalis Liu & Li, 2013 .

Figures

FIGURES 33 – 39. Leg setae with pipette setae of tibia IV of Nesticella beccus n. sp. (33 – 34) and Nesticus eremita (35 – 39). 33, Sexual dimorphism of leg setae; arrows pointing to pipette setae. 34, Pipette setae and tactile setae. 35, Pipette setae. 36, Pipette seta (left), tactile seta (centre), trichobothrium (right). 37, Tactile setae (long) and pipette setae (short). 38 – 39, Pipette seta, details (34 – 39, showing males). Photo credits: 34, 37 – 39, Rainer Foelix, 35 – 36, Rainer Foelix and Bruno Erb.