Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, 2023

Yang, Weicheng, He, Lianfeng, Yu, Hao & Lin, Yucheng, 2023, A new cave-dwelling spider of the genus Speleoticus (Araneae, Nesticidae) from Sichuan, China, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 107751-107751 : 107751

Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Li He; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; behavior: weaver; preparations: whole animal (ETOH); occurrenceID: 4F2FECF6-4539-5B2E-88BA-A9B6C98A6BDC; Taxon: order: Araneae; family: Nesticidae; genus: Speleoticus; specificEpithet: hei; scientificNameAuthorship: Yu & Lin; Location: continent: Asia; country: China; countryCode: CHN; stateProvince: Sichuan; county: Guangyuan; locality: cave Hanwang Dong ; decimalLatitude: 32.577297; decimalLongitude: 106.106979; Identification: identifiedBy: Hao Yu and Yucheng Lin; dateIdentified: 2022-03; identificationReferences: Lin et al. 2016; Event: samplingProtocol: by hand; samplingEffort: 10 km by foot; year: 2018; month: 4; day: 6; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Li He; individualCount: 5; sex: 2 males, 3 females; lifeStage: adult; behavior: weaver; preparations: whole animal (ETOH); occurrenceID: F3ACEB49-BC9E-5D14-8965-7D441B18B1AA; Taxon: order: Araneae; family: Nesticidae; genus: Speleoticus; specificEpithet: hei; scientificNameAuthorship: Yu & Lin; Location: continent: Asia; country: China; countryCode: CHN; stateProvince: Sichuan; county: Guangyuan; locality: cave Hanwang Dong ; decimalLatitude: 32.577297; decimalLongitude: 106.106979; Identification: identifiedBy: Hao Yu and Yucheng Lin; dateIdentified: 2022-03; identificationReferences: Lin et al. 2016; Event: samplingProtocol: by hand; samplingEffort: 10 km by foot; year: 2018; month: 4; day: 6; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Male holotype. Habitus as in Fig. 3 E and F. Total length 3.15. Carapace length 1.45, width 1.39, pale yellow to beige, with faint dark areas around the cervical furrow and fovea. Cervical groove and fovea distinct. Eyes (Fig. 3 E): in dorsal view, AER slightly recurved, PER almost straight and slightly wider than AER. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.09, ALE 0.09, PME 0.09, PLE 0.10; AME-AME 0.02, AME-ALE 0.05, PME-PME 0.11, PME-PLE 0.06; MOA 0.20 long, anterior width 0.19, posterior width 0.29. Mouthparts: chelicerae light orange, with three teeth on promargin; endite length 0.55, width 0.29, depressed posteriorly, slightly convergent anteriorly, with dense setae on inner margin; labium nearly rectangular, length 0.18, width 0.14. Sternum yellowish with sparse setae, length 0.75, width 0.85. Leg uniformly yellowish. Leg measurements: I 9.44 (0.43, 0.24, 2.37, 2.93, 2.33, 1.14); II 7.82 (0.48, 0.27, 2.08, 2.30, 1.80, 0.89); III 5.92 (0.43, 0.24, 1.70, 1.62, 1.26, 0.67); IV 7.96 (0.47, 0.26, 2.28, 2.38, 1.74, 0.83). Opisthosoma ovoid, 1.70 long, 1.07 wide, grey, dorsum with setae, with two indistinctly coloured chevron stripes posteriorly.

Palp (Fig. 4 A-D): Paracymbium long, with three branches or apophyses; ventral apophysis very small, shaped like a quadrahedron; Dp-I about 1/2 of Dp-II length, harpoon-shaped and with a subapical barb; Dp-II broad and long, well-developed, generally shaped like a sickle. Conductor complex, distally with three apophyses: Cp-I long and heavily-sclerotised, blade-shaped; Cp-II small, papilliform; Cp-III laminar, ending with a blunt tip. Terminal apophysis nearly triangular in prolateral view, protruding ventrally. Median apophysis heavily sclerotised, strongly expanded, directed ventrally, concave with two branches; proximal branch small, papilliform; distal branch relatively long, finger-like. Embolus slender and filiform, arising on the retrolateral flank (approximately 4 o’ clock position), surrounding the base, terminating at approximately 12 o’ clock position, its tip filiform and hidden behind the conductor.

Female. Colour of the living female light brown, abdomen dorsally with two ˄-shaped stripes and 3-4 pairs black spots (Fig. 2 ). Habitus in alcohol as in Fig. 3 G and H. As in male, except as noted. Total length 3.29. length 1.31, width 1.21, pyriform. Eye diameters: AME 0.09, ALE 0.09, PME 0.09, PLE 0.07; interdistances: AME-AME 0.02, AME-ALE 0.25, PME-PME 0.12, PME-PLE 0.07; MOA 0.22 long, anterior width 0.19, posterior width 0.29. Chelicerae with three promarginal teeth. Opisthosoma: length 1.99, width 1.40, dorsum anteriorly with two ˄-shaped stripes, posteriorly with paired marks, partially fused each other in the posterior side. Leg measurements: I 8.34 (0.45, 0.25, 2.45, 2.39, 1.88, 0.93); II 6.60 (0.41, 0.23, 1.79, 1.99, 1.41, 0.77); III 5.62 (0.39, 0.22, 1.56, 1.59, 1.46, 0.41); IV 7.28 (0.45, 0.25, 2.16, 2.19, 1.53, 0.70).

Epigyne (Fig. 3 A-D): Epigynal plate simple, disc-shaped, scape indistinct; lateral and posterior margins indistinct, spermathecae and bursae distinctly visible through integument after dissection. Median septum short, slightly protruding, shaped as a tongue. Copulatory openings indistinct, slit like, located on the anterior margin of the cleft situated on the posterior margin of the epigynal plate. Vulva centrally with a ˄-shaped structure. Vulval pocket global, situated anteriorly, widely separated from each other by ca. 1.5 × diameters. Spermathecae situated posteriorly to vulval pocket, relatively large, oval, ca. 1.6 × longer than wide, the two spermathecae are separated by 0.6 lengths.

Diagnosis

Males of S. hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. can be distinguished from those of all other congeners by the direction of the terminal apophysis (MA in Liu and Li (2013)), which is pointed ventrally (Fig. 4 A, C and D) (vs. pointed prolaterally) and by the presence of a distinct and heavily-sclerotised median apophysis (Fig. 4 A and D) (vs. median apophysis absent). Amongst the species of genus Speleoticus , the female of the new species resembles S. globosus in having a similarly-shaped epigynum, but can be distinguished from the latter by: (1) copulatory openings indistinct (vs. distinct) (cf. Fig. 3 A and C and Liu and Li (2013): figs. 32D and 33B); (2) vulval pocket slightly smaller than spermatheca (vs. vulval pocket distinctly larger) (cf. Fig. 3 B and D and Liu and Li (2013): figs. 32B, D and 34A); (3) the presence of all eight eyes (vs. eyes absent) (cf. Fig. 3 and Liu and Li (2013): fig. 34D).

Etymology

This species is a patronymic named after Mr. Li He (Chengdu City, China), collector of the types, who has greatly helped us in our research.

Distribution

Known only from the type locality, Hanwang Dong Cave, Guangyuan, Sichuan, China (Fig. 1 ).

Biology

The types of S. hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. were collected under stones in the moist area about 50-500 m from the entrance in Hanwang Dong Cave.

Figures

Figure 1. Hanwang Dong Cave, type locality of Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. A Location of Hanwang Dong Cave; B, C Entrance of Hanwang Dong Cave; D Habitat inside the cave; E Collection inside the cave.

Figure 2. Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, sp. n., female paratype, live specimens. Photographs by Li He (Chengdu, Sichuan).

Figure 3. Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, sp. n., female paratype and male holotype. A, B Macerated epigyne, ventral and dorsal view; C, D Epigyne, macerated and embedded in Arabic gum, ventral and dorsal view; E, F Male, habitus, ventral and dorsal view; G, H Female, habitus, ventral and dorsal view. Abbreviations: Co = copulatory opening; Ms = median septum; S = spermatheca; Vp = vulval pocket. Scale bars: 0.2 mm (equal for A-D); 2 mm (equal for E-F, equal for G-H).

Figure 4. Male left palp of the holotype of Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. A Ventral view; B Dorsal view; C Prolateral view; D Retrolateral view. Abbreviations: Cp (I-III) = processes of the conductor (I-III); Dp (I-II) = distal processes of the paracymbium (I-II); E = embolus; Eb = embolic base; Ma = median apophysis; P = paracymbium; St = subtegulum; T = tegulum; Ta = terminal apophysis; Va = ventral apophysis of the paracymbium. Scale bar: 0.2 mm (equal for A-D).