Sphingius, Thorell

Deeleman-Reinhold, Christa, 2001, Forest Spiders of South East Asia With a revision of the sac and ground spiders (Araneae: Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Liocranidae, Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae and Trochanteriidae)., Forest Spiders of South East Asia With a revision of the sac and ground spiders- Family Liocranidae, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Leiden; Boston; Köln, pp. 400-505 : 488-492

Genus Sphingius Thorell

Sphingius Thorell, 1890: 284 . Type species: Sphingius thecatus Thorell, 1890: 284 , no figures, ♂, Malay Peninsula, Penang.

Thamphilus Thorell, 1895: 35; placed in synonymy in 1897 by Simon (HNA).

Alaeho Barrion and Litsinger, 1995: 170 , syn. n.

History.— See also under Jacaena . The placement of Sphingius has aroused controversy. Simon (1897, NHA: 157) moved the genus to the Molycriae, a tribe within the subfamily Micariinae (Gnaphosidae) , which also included Molycria and Myandra . This placement was erroneous, as explained under Jacaena on p. 465. It was based mainly on a vague resemblance to Myandra (Simon admitted that the genus Molycria was unknown to him). He further argued this placement by the absence of ventral spines on anterior tibiae. Lehtinen (1967: 292) suggested that Sphingius belongs in the Corinnidae and this view was followed by Brignoli (1983) and Platnick (1989, 1993 and 1997).

Sphingius is much less uniform than Teutamus and Sesieutes \ eye pattern, spination and genital organs exhibit a wide variety.

Described species.— Apart from the type species, 11 species have been described in Sphingius and Thamphilus from a region stretching from India to Viet Nam and the Malay Peninsula; I add five new species here. Four of the Indian species were described by Gravely; two of the latter, emended by Majumder and Tikader, 1991, probably do not fit in the genus and are left out here (I suspect that S. longipes belongs in Systaria ). Sphingius thecatus Thorell, 1890 , ♀, Malaysia, Penang; S. scutatus Simon, 1897 , ♂, Sri Lanka; S. vivax (Thorell, 1897) , ♀. Myanmar (Burma) to Philippines; S. scrobiculatus Thorell, 1897 , ♂, Myanmar (Burma), Palon; S. nilgiriensis Gravely, 1931 , ♂, India; S. caniceps Simon. 1906 , ♂♀, India; S. barkudensis Gravely, 1931 , ♂ ♀, India; S. bilineatus Simon, 1906, ♂♀, India; S. paltaensis Biswas and Biswas, 1992 , ♀. India; S. gracilis (Thorell, 1895) , ♀. Myanmar (Burma), Tharrawaddy; S. gothicus sp. n., ♂♀, N Thailand; S. penicillus sp. n., ♂♀, Thailand; S. octomaculatus sp. n., ♂♀, Thailand; S. songi sp. n., ♂♀, Thailand; S. punctatus sp. n., ♂♀, Thailand. Sumatra, Sulawesi, Lesser Sunda Islands, all this volume. New species are described in geographic order.

Unidentified specimens ( map 41 ):

Loc. 1: Thailand, Huay Yang, ♂: pale, smooth carapace, no collar, long curved embolus (MHNG).

Loc. 2: Thailand, Ko Chang, ♀: epigyne with loops running through depression (MHNG).

Loc. 3: Thailand, Ko Samui, Na Muang Waterfall, ♂:21/ 2 mm, dorsal scutum, ventral brush in the middle (MHNG).

Loc. 4: Thailand, Mae Hia, ♂, with S. gothicus (MHNG).

Loc. 5: Thailand, Ban Kiriwong, Khao Luang National Park, ♂♀: granulate carapace, small PME, very long tibial apophysis, epigyne with very large and deep depression, small spermathecae (MHNG).

Loc. 6: Thailand, Yala Province, Banglang National Park, 150 m, 2.i. 1990, 1 ♂: 2 mm, carapace smooth, femur IV 2 large dorsal spines; ventral brush in front of spinnerets (MHNG).

Loc. a (not on map): N Malaysia, Chenderiang 1 ♀ (MHNG).

Loc. b (not on map): cf. barkudensis Gravely, 1931 , W Java, Cibodas, Gunung Gedeh Nat. Park, ♂♀.

Old material studied.— S. vivax , ♀ type, Moulmein, MCSNG; S. gracilis , 2 ♀, Palon, MCSNG ( figs 837 - 838 ), ♀, (type), Tharrawaddy, leg. Oates, BM; S. scrobiculatus, Palon , ♂, type, MCSNG ( fig. 839 ). I could find no specimen of S. thecatus in the MCSNG during my visits in 1986 and 1989.

Diagnosis.— Cylindrical, vaguely ant-like spiders with armoured males of small to medium size, with spineless antior tibiae and metatarsi. The colour ranges from pale yellow to almost black. Species in the genus can be distinguished from other ground spiders with diagonally depressed endites by the juxtaposed and conical anterior spinnerets, the entire dorsal, epigastric and postgenital scutum in the abdomen in males. In females there is only a tripartite epigastric scutum. Sphingius is distinct from Sesieutes by the absence of a dorsal scutum in females and from other phrurolithines by the spineless anterior tibiae and metatarsi and by the tarsi in leg I-III being almost as long as the metatarsi (except in octomaculatus ). Furthermore, there are distinguishing features in the male palp viz. a filiform embolus, a lanceolate membraneous conductor (which may be absent) and a compact median apophysis. The epigyne has an anterior rebordered depression (absent in S. gracilis ( figs 837 - 838 , not obvious in octopunctata) which is often filled with plugging material and in which the funnel-shaped openings are located.

Sphingius may be confounded with the genus Micaria (Gnaphosidae) . Micaria has cylindrical, well separated anterior spinnerets which typifies this genus as gnaphosid and the males have an unusual abdomen, constricted dorsally and covered with iridescent hair. Further properties of Micaria which distinguish it from Sphingius are the procurved posterior eye row, the cheliceral armature which consists of 2 promarginal teeth and 0 or 1 retrolateral denticles and the posterior median spinnerets in females, which are cylindrical-acuminate. The male palp in Micaria has a much shorter thicker embolus than in Sphingius .

Description. — Carapace low and flat, surface with pits and thorns, granulate or smooth. Eye group width over at most 2/3 of carapace width, AER procurved in frontal view, straight in dorsal view; posterior row slightly longer than anterior row, AME smallest, PER straight or slightly recurved in dorsal view, PME often angular or somewhat oval; clypeus rebordered, equal to or less than 1 d AME. Chilum a triangular, separate sclerite, juxtaposed to clypeus. Labium longer than wide, excavated at the tip. Chelicerae with 3 promarginal teeth and 2 widely spaced denticles on retromargin. Sternum widely truncate between coxae IV, sometimes fused with pedicel. Retrocoxal window absent. Tarsi long, almost as long as metatarsi. Femora with a small dorsal spine basally, anterior tibiae and metatarsi spineless except in the undescribed species from Thailand, Huay Yang, in which tibia I and II bear 1 pair of small ventral spines. Anterior femora dorsally geniculate near base, shorter than carapace length; anterior femora with 1 proximo-dorsal spine, posterior legs with spines or spineless; posterior metatarsi with apical brush, tarsal claw tufts feeble; tarsal claws long and curved, teeth sometimes obsolete in posterior legs. Females with arched and flattened palpal femur. Abdomen widest in posterior half, in males with dorsal and ventral scutum, the latter composed of an epigastric and a full postgenital scutum; epigastric scutum sometimes with collar, postgenital scutum most often fused with epigastric scutum; in females dorsal scutum absent and epigastric scutum tripartite, divided into a central plate and two lateral plates. ALS juxtaposed and conical, PLS with very short and flat distal segment with several thin elongate spigots, PMS in females feebly compressed laterally, on flat truncation 2 rows of spigots ( fig. 852 , penicillus ), PMS in males cylindrical, with very few spigots apically. Male palp with simple tibial apophysis; spiniform embolus only occasionally reaching beyond tip of tegulum, median apophysis cubical; conductor small and lanceolate or absent. Epigyne framed in rectangular central epigastric plate. Epigyne consisting of a usually large and rebordered depression anteriorly, often plugged with black substance, from which a funnel-shaped duct leads to the spermathecae. Openings in the corners of depression. Bursae present, thin-walled, often small. Insemination ducts join the ducts which connect bursae with spermathecae at a point usually close to bursae.

Remark.— Long-term pitfall trapping activities in various parts of Thailand by P. Schwendinger resulted in a number of small (2-3 mm), possibly endemic Sphingius species (see under unidentified specimens), showing that the area was a centre of speciation.

Distribution.— India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, southern Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Philippines. Sphingius vivax and punctatus are widely distributed, the other species appear to be local, but may have their range extended into neighbouring regions, which for the time being are poorly known arachnologically.

Habitat.— A variety of forests, from primary rainforest to light monsoon forests. Most material was collected by sifting leaf litter in forests and in pitfall traps. Some male specimens were taken by day when they crossed a road or track.

Figures

Map 41: (g) Sphingius gracilis (t) S. thecatus (b) S. barkudensis (p) S. paltaensis (n) S. nilgiriensis © S. caniceps ⁎ S. scrobiculatus ● S. vivax ■ S. gothicus ▲ S. penicillus ▼ S. octomaculatus ★ S. songi ◙ S. punctatus Ө Unidentified specimen 1 - 6

Figs 837. Sphingius gracilis, fem ale, type (M CSNG) Tharawaddy, epigyne, free hand sketch. 838. Female Palon (BM), vulva, free hand sketch. 839. Sphingius scrobiculatus, male type, Palon, male palp, free hand sketch. 840 - 842. Sphingius vivax, Malaysia. 840. M ale palp, ventral. 841. R etrolat ­ eral. 842. Vulva, in clove oil, dorsal. 843 - 846. Sphingius gothicus sp. n. 843. Male holotype, palp, ventral. 844. Retrolateral. 845. Epigyne. 846. Vulva, in clove oil, ventral.

Figs 847 - 852. Sphingius penicillus sp. n. 847. Male holotype, habitus. 848. Palp, retrolateral. 849. Ventral. 850. Epigyne. 8 5 1. Vulva, in clove oil, ventral. 852. Female, spinnerets, ventro-caudal. 853 - 856. Sphingius songi sp. n. 853. Male palp, ventral. 854. Retrolateral. 855. Epigyne. 856. Vulva, dorsal.