Malamatidia zu Jaeger & Dankittipakul, 2010

Figs 1, 2

Malamatidia zu Jäger & Dankittipakul, 2010: 38, figs 61-63, 73 (♂).

Malamatidia christae Jäger & Dankittipakul, 2010: 39, figs 64-70, 74 (♀). syn. nov.

Material examined.

China: Yunnan: Xishuangbanna: Mengla County: Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve: 1♂ (YHCLU0119), Xiaolongha biodiversity preservation corridor (21°24.798'N, 101°37.880'E, 690 m), 28 June 2012, G. Zheng leg. , Menglun Town: Menglun Nature Reserve: 1♀ (YHCLU0120), primary tropical seasonal rain forest (21°57.883'N, 101°12.147'E, 930 m), 15 August 2011, Q. Zhao leg. ; 2♂, primary tropical seasonal rainforest (21°57.669'N, 101°11.893'E, 790 m), 7 August 2007, G. Zheng leg.; 6♀, valley tropical seasonal rainforest (21°54.894'N, 101°16.554'E, 569 m), 1 December 2009, G. Tang leg.

Diagnosis.

Males can be characterised by the sickle-shaped embolus, its tip terminated antero-mesally (Fig. 1C, D) (vs. embolus filiform or flagelliform, terminated postero-retrolaterally in other Malamatidia spp.). The female of M. zu is easily differentiated from all other congeners by the oval bursae (Fig. 2C, D) (vs. globular bursae).

Description.

See Jäger and Dankittipakul (2010). Male palp as in Fig. 1A-E, epigyne as in Fig. 2A-D, habitus as in Fig. 2E-H.

Comments.

Both sexes were known for all Malamatidia species except M. christae and M. zu . These two species were described based on holotypes from Laos. The former was collected from Luang Nam Tha Province, while the latter was from Luang Prabang Province. Jäger and Dankittipakul (2010) described these two specimens as separate species because of their different habitats, different sizes, and different colours. Recently, new material containing both sexes has been collected from Xishuangbanna. We matched the females and males based on morphological characters (Fig. 2E-H) and DNA barcoding. Consequently, M. christae is synonymised with M. zu .

Distribution.

Laos, China (Yunnan Province, new record). The new collections extend the known range of this species by ~ 250 km to the northwest (Xishuangbanna) from the type locality (Luang Prabang).