Heptathela aha, Xu, Xin, Ono, Hirotsugu, Kuntner, Matjaz, Liu, Fengxiang & Li, Daiqin, 2019

Xu, Xin, Ono, Hirotsugu, Kuntner, Matjaz, Liu, Fengxiang & Li, Daiqin, 2019, A taxonomic monograph of the liphistiid spider genus Heptathela, endemic to Japanese islands, ZooKeys 888, pp. 1-50 : 1

Heptathela aha sp. nov. Fig. 15

Type material.

Holotype: JAPAN · ♀; Okinawa-ken, Iheyajima Island, Mt. Aha-dake; 27.02N, 127.93E; alt. 10 m; 26 December 2012; D. Li, F.X. Liu and X. Xu leg.; XUX-2012-502.

Paratypes: JAPAN · 6 ♀♀; same data as for holotype; XUX-2012-504 to 519.

Diagnosis.

Females of H. aha sp. nov. cannot be distinguished morphologically from those of H. gayozan sp. nov. but can be distinguished from those of H. kubayama sp. nov. by the receptacular clusters without genital stalks; and from those of H. mae sp. nov. by the inner receptacular clusters similar to or larger than laterals ( Fig. 15 A–F ). Heptathela aha sp. nov. can also be diagnosed from all other Okinawa group Heptathela species by the following unique nucleotide substitutions in the standard DNA barcode alignment: C (41), C (179), G (182), G (233), T (248), G (251), T (326), A (347), G (359), C (473), C (492), A (536), T (651).

Description.

Female (Holotype). Carapace brown; opisthosoma brown, brown tergites with black plaques; cheliceral groove with 12 pronounced denticles; seven spinnerets. Measurements: BL 12.60, CL 5.55, CW 5.00, OL 6.82, OW 5.50; ALE> PLE> PME> AME; palp 9.90 (3.40 + 1.71 + 2.18 + 2.61), leg I 11.34 (3.31 + 2.05 + 2.31 + 2.35 + 1.32), leg II 11.65 (3.51 + 1.98 + 2.03 + 2.53 + 1.60), leg III 11.92 (3.30 + 1.90 + 2.05 + 2.97 + 1.70), leg IV 16.96 (4.88 + 2.22 + 2.98 + 34.45 + 2.43).

Female genitalia. A pair of depressions on the ventro-lateral part of the genital atrium ( Fig. 15 D–F ). A pair of receptacular clusters along the anterior margin of bursa copulatrix, divided into two parts, both without genital stalks ( Fig. 15 A–F ).

Male. Unknown.

Etymology.

The species epithet, a noun in apposition, refers to the type locality.

Distribution.

The species is endemic to the Japanese island Iheyajima ( Fig. 1C ).

Figures

Figure 1. General somatic morphology of Heptathela kimurai (Kishida, 1920) A dorsal view B ventral view and map showing the sampling localities of Heptathela specimens from Kyushu to central Ryukyus (C).

Figure 15. Female genital anatomy of Heptathela aha sp. nov. A, D 2502 (holotype, short for XUX- 2012 - 502) B, E 2505 C, F 2506 A-C vulva dorsal view D-F vulva ventral view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.