Mesida culta

Sankaran, Pradeep M., Malamel, Jobi J., Joseph, Mathew M. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2017, On the genus Tylorida Simon, 1894 with the first record of the genus Atelidea Simon, 1895 from India (Araneae: Tetragnathidae, Leucauginae), Zootaxa 4353 (2), pp. 294-326 : 315

Mesida culta (O. P.- Cambridge, 1869) comb. nov.

Tetragnatha culta O. P.– Cambridge, 1869: 390, plate 13, figs 69–75 (Description and illustration of male and female [Holotype not designated; 2 males, 6 females collected from SRI LANKA; date unknown; J. Nietner leg.,; specimen repository OUMNH]) NOT EXAMINED.

Leucauge sexpustulata Simon, 1906: 307 (Description of female)

Leucauge culta Gravely, 1921: 453 , fig. 8a (Brief description of male and illustration of opisthosoma of female)

Anopas cultus (sic!) Archer, 1951: 8 (Transfer of male and female from Leucauge )

Leucauge culta Tikader, 1982: 87 , figs 172–174 (Description and illustration of female)

Justification of the transfer. O. P.- Cambridge (1869) described M. culta comb. nov. from Sri Lanka, who placed this species in the genus Tetragnatha . Gravely (1921) transferred this species to the genus Leucauge and was later transferred to the genus Anopas Archer, 1951 . Currently the species is included in the genus Tylorida as the genus Tylorida was considered a senior synonym of Anopas ( Chrysanthus 1975) . In his original description, O. P.- Cambridge (1869) pointed out the presence of a median spur on the anterior surface of the male chelicerae of this species. In his redescription, Gravely (1921) also noted the presence of cheliceral spur of the male spider. The descriptions of both O. P.-Cambridge and Gravely indicated the presence of a median spur on the anterior surface of the chelicerae of the male spider, which is the characteristic feature of adult male spiders belonging to the genus Mesida ( Barrion and Listinger 1995; Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2011). From this, it is clear that this species is misplaced within Tylorida and thus should be transferred to the genus Mesida .