Lehtinenia bisulcus, Lin & Pham & Li, 2009

Lin, Yucheng, Pham, Dinh-Sac & Li, Shuqiang, 2009, Six New Spiders From Caves Of Northern Vietnam (Araneae: Tetrablemmidae: Ochyroceratidae: Telemidae: Symphytognathidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 57 (2), pp. 323-342 : 324-327

Lehtinenia bisulcus new species

( Figs. 1 A−B; 2A−F)

Material examined. – Holotype - Male ( IZCAS), Prehistoric Man Cave (20°18'N, 105°40'E; Alt: 256 m), Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam, coll. S. Li, 19 July 2008.

Paratypes – 4 females ( IZCAS), same data as holotype .

Diagnosis. – The new specie is similar to L. bicornis from Hainan Island, China (Tong & Li, 2008), but can be distinguished by the proximally wider and distally narrower palpal bulb, the distally furcate embolus, the swollen palpal femur, and the elevated ocular area in males; and the arcuate epiginal pit, the short and broad inner vulval plate, and the presence of translucent center process in frontal of inner vulval plate in females.

Etymology. – The specific name comes from Latin bisulcus = forked, in reference to the shape of the distal end of embolus.

Description. – Holotype male. Body orange. Total length 1.14. Carapace 0.50 long, 0.40 wide; Carapace 0.32 high. Abdomen 0.72 wide, 0.52 long. Clypeus 0.23 high. Sternum 0.32 long, 0.30 wide. Carapace diamond-shaped, highest anteriorly at the eye group, slightly sloping backwards and sharply down forwards, with finely reticulate modification. Six eyes in one group, with black ring, and a blunt, short process behind them. Ocular and cephalic areas bear hairs. ALE>PLE>PME. Posterior eyes row recurved. Cheliceral promargin with a large tooth and lamina, frontal-middle with a condyle, another in inside base, fang short and strong, basal boss large. Sternum with reticular ornaments, marginally rugose. Femora, tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi with obviously modified granula and serrate hairs. Tibia bears three trichobothria, and one on metatarsus. Leg measurements: I 1.23 (0.42, 0.08, 0.31, 0.20, 0.22); II 1.09 (0.36, 0.08, 0.26, 0.19, 0.20); III 0.96 (0.30, 0.07, 0.21, 0.19, 0.19); IV 1.33 (0.41, 0.11, 0.34, 0.24, 0.23). Leg formula: 4 1 2 3. Abdominal dorsal scutum long, oval, with smooth surface. Lateral scutum I long, reaching the posterior margin of pulmonary plate. One pair of perigenital plates.

Male palpal bulbus proximally swollen, pear-shaped, distally continued by a narrow extension; embolus relatively wide, strongly sclerotized, with distal end forming an asymmetric furcation; tibia longer than femur, swollen, nearly two times larger than femur, with one dorsal trichobothrium on distal tibia ( Fig. 1 A, B ).

Female. Color as in male. Total length 1.24. Carapace 0.54 long, 0.42 wide. Carapace 0.27 high. Abdomen 0.82 long, 0.63 long. Clypeus 0.12 high. Sternum 0.31 long, 0.31 wide. Carapace and sternum reticular ornaments same as in male. Ocular area unmodified. Six eyes in one group, eyes smaller than corresponding eyes of male. ALE>PLE>PME. Cheliceral surface without modified process. Legs with granules. Ttrichobothria on legs same as in male. Leg measurements: I 1.19 (0.40, 0.08, 0.29, 0.20, 0.22); II 1.11 (0.37, 0.08, 0.26, 0.19, 0.21); III 0.98 (0.30, 0.07, 0.21, 0.20, 0.20); IV 1.37 (0.42, 0.13, 0.34, 0.24, 0.24). Leg formula: 4 1 2 3. Preanal plate larger than that of male, with a pair of sclerotized flakes on the posterolateral corners. Postgenital plate subequal to preanal plate in width, postgenital plate scale-shaped.

Epiginal pit transversely crescent, with vulval stem connected via a pair of long, laterally extending, strongly sclerotized horns; lateral horns with procurved distal tip connected to the spermathecae; center process with length subequal to the inner vulval plate, rugose membrane; inner vulval plate weakly sclerotized, with a broad base. Epiginal fold distinct, almost reaching the margin of epiginal shield ( Fig. 2 A ).

Distribution. – Known only from the type locality ( Fig. 13 ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Lehtinenia bisulcus new species: A. Male left palp, retrolateral view; B. Male left palp, prolateral view. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

Fig. 2. Lehtinenia bisulcus new species: A. Female epiginal area and cleared vulva, ventral view; B. Female carapace, dorsal view; C. Ditto, lateral view; D. Female abdomen, ventral view; E. Male carapace and right palp, lateral view; F. Male chelicerae, frontal view. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

Fig. 13. Locality records of cave spiders in Vietnam.