Falcileptoneta okinawaensis Komatsu, 1972

Ballarin, Francesco & Eguchi, Katsuyuki, 2022, Taxonomic notes on leptonetid spiders from the Ryukyu Archipelago with the description of two new species and the first record of the genus Longileptoneta from Japan (Araneae: Leptonetidae), Zootaxa 5213 (4), pp. 371-387 : 386

Falcileptoneta okinawaensis Komatsu, 1972

Falcileptoneta okinawaensis Komatsu, 1972: 82 , f. 1-5 (♂ ♀).

F. okinawaensis Shimojana, 1977: 346 , f. 4D (♂).

Type locality. Shimuku-gama cave, Namihira village , Yomitan-son, Nakagami-gun, Okinawa-honto Is., Okinawa Pref. (26.40247°N, 127.73133°E) .

Description. See Komatsu, 1972 for the description of the male (detailed description of the female habitus and genitalia missing).

Distribution. Endemic to Okinawa-honto Is. ( Fig.10 ).

Remarks. This troglophilic species is endemic to Okinawa-honto Is. and reported from few caves in the Central- Southern part of the island ( Fig. 10 ). It is apparently absent in other islands of the Ryukyu arc ( Shimojana 1977) and no external records are currently known. We failed to collect any specimens of F. okinawaensis during our surveys in the Ryukyus despite searching in some of the recorded localities including the type locality cave. Consequently, we postpone the study of this species to future works when some fresh samples of both sexes are available. Apparently, F. okinawaensis can cohabits in the same caves with the more widely distributed M. longipalpis (see Shimojana 1977). We cannot directly confirm this observation since we only collected the latter species during our surveys. Nevertheless, the two species show different degrees of morphological adaptations to the subterranean environment, with F. okinawaensis being apparently less adapted. Thus, they can possibly occupy different sections of the same cave and different niches avoiding direct competition. Additional ecological studies on the micro-habitat preference of M. longipalpis and F. okinawaensis are necessary to confirm this hypothesis.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Known records of Leptonetidae in the Ryukyu Archipelago and location of the related caves. Legend: pink hexagon = Longileptoneta yamasakii sp. nov.; blue dot = Masirana. suzukii sp. nov.; yellow dots = M. longipalpis; red squares = Falcileptoneta okinawaensis. Type localities of the species are highlighted with an internal black dot.