Nesticella yao, Lin, Yucheng, Ballarin, Francesco & Li, Shuqiang, 2016

Lin, Yucheng, Ballarin, Francesco & Li, Shuqiang, 2016, A survey of the spider family Nesticidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Asia and Madagascar, with the description of forty-three new species, ZooKeys 627, pp. 1-168 : 35

Taxon classification Animalia Araneae Nesticidae

Nesticella yao sp. n. Figs 39, 82

Type material.

Holotype ♀ and paratype 1♀ (IZCAS), CHINA: Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Gongcheng County, Songlin Village, Houyan Cave (24.96742°N, 110.88112°E, 221 m), 28.VIII.2009, Z. Yao leg.

Etymology.

The name derives from the Yao people, an ethnic minority living in the type locality; noun in apposition.

Diagnosis.

The new species is closely related to Nesticella songi Chen & Zhu, 2004 (see Fig. 34 E–G, and Chen and Zhu 2004: 87, figs 6-7) and Nesticella nandanensis sp. n. (see Fig. 23 E–G). It can be separated from the former species by the squarer scape (Sp) with a flat and furrowed posterior margin, by the straighter and more compact ducts (Fd and Cd) and by the lack of a clear constriction around the coils of the fertilization ducts (Fd) (Fig. 39 D–F vs. Fig. 34 E–G). It can be recognized from Nesticella nandanensis sp. n. by the squarer scape (Sp) with a flat rather than convex posterior margin, by the straighter copulatory ducts (Cd) (bent outward in Nesticella nandanensis sp. n.) and the spermathecae (S) closer to each other (Fig. 39 D–F vs. Fig. 23 E–G).

Description.

Habitus as in Fig. 39 A–C. Carapace yellowish, with several setae along the cervical groove. Cervical groove and fovea indistinct. Mouthparts yellow. Sternum yellow. Female palps and legs yellowish, distally darker in metatarsi and tarsi. Opisthosoma uniformly yellowish with three paired, greyish dorsal marks.

Epigyne (Fig. 39 D–F): slightly wrinkled and translucent (Fig. 39D). Scape short and wide, laminar, and laterally sclerotized, with a flat and furrowed posterior margin (Fig. 39D). Spermathecae small and globular, separated by about 1.4 diameters (Fig. 39F). Fertilization ducts thin, reaching the spermathecae with three coils. Copulatory ducts short, swollen in the central part, about as wide as the spermathecae (Fig. 39 E–F).

Female (holotype). Total length 2.84. Carapace 1.36 long, 1.14 wide. Opisthosoma 1.72 long, 1.13 wide. Clypeus height 0.22. Sternum 0.80 long, 0.78 wide. Leg measurements: see Appendix A.

Male. Unknown.

Habitat.

Cave.

Distribution.

Known only from the type locality (Fig. 82).