Siamspinops Dankittipakul & Corronca, 2009

Crews, Sarah C. & Harvey, Mark S., 2011, The spider family Selenopidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Australasia and the Oriental Region, ZooKeys 99, pp. 1-104 : 67-68

Genus Siamspinops Dankittipakul & Corronca, 2009

Siamspinops Dankittipakul and Corronca 2009: 69. Type species: Siamspinops spinosissimus , Dankittipakul and Corronca, 2009, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Siamspinops females can beseparated from those of all other genera by the combination of highly coiled spermathecae and by the presence of a posterodorsal epigynal fold. Some members of Karaops gen. n. also have strongly coiled ducts, but are lacking the posterodorsal fold. Males can be easily separated by having extremely strongly forward projecting chelicerae and long fangs. No other genus of selenopid has these characters.

Description.

Total length 6.00-7.90. Cephalothorax: Carapace with some dusky marks, wider than long. Short, broad, shallow fovea. Setae simple. AER straight, PER recurved. AME smaller than PME. Chelicerae slightly geniculate and robust in female; chelicerae and fangs in male are very long and strongly projecting forward; with 3 pro lateral and 2 retrolateral teeth. Legs: Leg II is longer than leg IV, with leg III longest in females; tibiae I and II with 11-15 paired ventral spines, metatarsi I and II with 7-13 paired ventral spines; tarsal scopulae present. Female copulatory organs: Epigynum with or without lateral lobes, with median field and epigynal pockets. Spermathecae heavily sclerotized and coiled, with 7-14 spirals, posterodorsal fold present. Male copulatory organs: Palpal tibia with 2 tibial apophyses; embolus long and filiform; conductor T-shaped with one tip pointed;MA with only one branch, simple, and hook-shaped.

Distribution.

Siamspinops occurs in Southeast Asia from Thailand, south to Malaysia (Map 1).

Composition.

Four species, Siamspinops allospinosus , Siamspinops spinescens , Siamspinops spinosissimus , Siamspinops spinosus which were all recently described by Dankittipakul and Corronca (2009), and we transfer one species, Selenops aculeatus , to Siamspinops , and redescribe this species, bringing the total number of species to five. It is likely there are many more species in the region.