Asianopis Lin & Li, 2020

Lin, Yejie, Shao, Lili, Haenggi, Ambros, Caleb, John T. D., Koh, Joseph K. H., Jaeger, Peter & Li, Shuqiang, 2020, Asianopis gen. nov., a new genus of the spider family Deinopidae from Asia, ZooKeys 911, pp. 67-99 : 67

Genus Asianopis Lin & Li gen. nov.

Type species.

Asianopis zhuanghaoyuni Lin & Li, sp. nov.

Etymology.

The generic name is a combination of the word " Asia ", referring to the distribution of the genus, and the generic name Deinopis . The gender is feminine.

Diagnosis.

Asianopis gen. nov. can be easily distinguished from Deinopis by the following characters: a prominent setal fringe can be found above the posterior median eyes in both sexes of Asianopis species (Fig. 4A, B ), which is absent in Deinopis ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 3a); the embolic tip of male Asianopis has an embolic middle apophysis ( liukuensis -group, Fig. 21A ), an embolic terminal apophysis or is weakly folded apically ( zhuanghaoyuni -group, Fig. 21B-E ), whereas none of these characters is present in Deinopis ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 11m); the MADL in Asianopis is small and has a basal lobe, while in Deinopis , the median apophysis is larger than the MABL and covers the entire base ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 11m); female chelicerae with many denticles between the promarginal and retromarginal teeth (Fig. 2F ) or female chelicerae without denticles (Fig. 2H ), in contrast, denticles are only at the center of any two adjoining retromarginal teeth in Deinopis ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 5c); femora I enlarged proximally in Asianopis gen. nov. ( liukuensis group, Fig. 2I ) or not enlarged ( zhuanghaoyuni -group, Fig. 2J ), but they are enlarged distally in Deinopis ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 3b); epigynal median plate lateral margins anchor-shaped in Asianopis gen. nov. (Figs 3A , 6A ), but ellipsoid in Deinopis ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 9b); SpD is consistently narrow in Asianopis gen. nov. (Figs 3B , 6B ) but tapering in Deinopis ( Coddington et al. 2012: fig. 9d).

Description.

Male. Total length 12.14-16.10 (n = 8), carapace pear-shaped, yellow-brown ( liukuensis -group) or brown ( zhuanghaoyuni -group) with white edge, white line extending from cephalic area to posterior margin and small spines sparsely distributed; fovea longitudinal, indistinct. Chelicerae with a promarginal tooth and one or two retromarginal teeth ( liukuensis -group) or with four promarginal teeth and 2-6 retromarginal teeth ( zhuanghaoyuni -group), no denticles. Endites and labium brown, distally white; sternum diamond-shaped, brown with median light band and few small spines. Legs brown, ventrally with black pattern and short spines, leg formula 1243. Opisthosoma cylindrical, brown or dark-brown with small black spots and irregular pattern. Cribellum entire, spinnerets brown (Figs 4 , 10 , 13 , 16 ).

Female. Total length 14-24 (n = 13). Chelicerae with four promarginal teeth and seven retromarginal teeth, many denticles in between the promarginal and retromarginal teeth ( liukuensis -group) or four promarginal teeth and 8-13 retromarginal teeth, without denticles ( zhuanghaoyuni -group). Appearance of carapace, opisthosoma and legs as in male but femora of legs I enlarged basally ( liukuensis -group) (Fig. 2I ).

Male palpal tibia longer than cymbium; cymbium almost round; tegulum distinctly wider than the diameter of embolic coil ( liukuensis -group) or tegulum obscured by embolic coil ( zhuanghaoyuni -group) (Figs 17 , 18 ); embolus long and strongly coiled around MA, embolic base beginning at 7-8 o’clock position, coiled 1200° ( liukuensis -group) or more than 1500° ( zhuanghaoyuni -group), embolic tip straight ( liukuensis -group) or widened subapically, folded and without apophysis ( zhuanghaoyuni -group); MA small, directed at 7-8 o’clock position, with two lobes, a small lobe at the base, and a narrow distal lobe with two apophyses ( liukuensis -group) or large, with two lobes, a large lobe at the base and a kidney-shaped distal lobe ( zhuanghaoyuni -group).

Epigyne with anchor-shaped median plate, CO distinct, CD with three turns, S oval, SpD consistently wide ( liukuensis -group) or with a well-developed MP, obscuring CO, CD with 7-8 turns, S oval, SpD consistently thin ( zhuanghaoyuni -group).

Molecular phylogeny.

The molecular phylogenetic analysis indicates with strong support that all the species in this study do not belong to Deinopis . Based on the 4893 bp-aligned sequences of seven gene fragments, the ML and Bayesian analyses produced the same topology, showing a split of a Southwest China clade from other clades and is strongly supported (Bootstrap value: 88; PP: 0.98) (Fig. 1 ). Our results are consistent with the results of Chamberland et al. (2018) who conducted a global phylogenetic analysis of Deinopis . Therefore, the Southwest China clade can be classified as a new genus with strong support (Bootstrap value: 100; PP: 1). Although intraspecific support values are low in both ML and Bayesian analyses results, basal nodes are strongly supported, including the sister relationship of A. wangi Lin & Li, sp. nov. & A. zhuanghaoyuni Lin & Li, sp. nov. (Bootstrap value: 95; PP: 1).

Natural habitat.

All the species of Asianopis gen. nov. were collected from bushes in low-elevation forests.

Composition.

This new genus comprises two species groups: the liukuensis -group with two species: A. dumogae (Merian, 1911) sp. reval. comb. nov. and A. liukuensis (Yin, Griswold & Yan, 2002) comb. nov. and the zhuanghaoyuni -group with five species: A. celebensis (Merian, 1911) comb. nov., A. konplong (Logunov, 2018) comb. nov., A. wangi sp. nov., A. wuchaoi sp. nov., and A. zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov.

Distribution.

China (Fujian, Yunnan, Hong Kong, Guangxi, Hainan), India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree of Deinopidae spiders based on 31 specimens. Numbers on nodes indicate Maximum Likelihood bootstrap values and Bayesian posterior probabilities.

Figure 2. Prosoma (frontal view, upper ♂, lower ♀) (A-D), chelicerae (E-H) and leg I (I-J). Figures A and C modified from Coddington et al. (2012). A Deinopis spinosa B Asianopis liukuensis comb. nov. C Menneus dromedarius D Asianopis zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov. E Chelicerae of male A. liukuensis comb. nov. F Chelicerae of female A. liukuensis comb. nov. (Arrows indicate the denticles) G Chelicerae of male A. zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov. H Chelicerae of female A. zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov. I Left leg I of female A. liukuensis comb. nov. Arrow shows enlarged femur J Left leg I of female A. zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov.

Figure 3. Asianopis dumogae sp. reval. comb. nov., female type. A Epigyne B Vulva, dorsal view.

Figure 4. Asianopis liukuensis comb. nov., male from Xishuangbanna and female from Jianfengling. A Male prosoma, frontal view B Female prosoma, frontal view C Male habitus, dorsal view D Male habitus, ventral view E Female habitus, dorsal view F Female habitus, ventral view.

Figure 6. Asianopis liukuensis comb. nov., female from Jianfengling. A Epigyne B Vulva, dorsal view.

Figure 10. Asianopis wangi sp. nov., male holotype and female paratype. A Male prosoma, frontal view B Female prosoma, frontal view C Male habitus, dorsal view D Male habitus, ventral view E Female habitus, dorsal view F Female habitus, ventral view.

Figure 13. Asianopis wuchaoi sp. nov., male holotype and female paratype. A Male prosoma, frontal view B Female prosoma, frontal view C Male habitus, dorsal view D Male habitus, ventral view E Female habitus, dorsal view F Female habitus, ventral view.

Figure 16. Asianopis zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov., male holotype and female paratype. A Male prosoma, frontal view B Female prosoma, frontal view C Male habitus, dorsal view D Male habitus, ventral view E Female habitus, dorsal view F Female habitus, ventral view.

Figure 17. Asianopis zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov., male holotype, left palp. A Prolateral view B Retrolateral view.

Figure 18. Asianopis zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov., female paratype. A Epigyne B Vulva, dorsal view.

Figure 21. Embolic tips of four species of Asianopis gen. nov. A A. liukuensis (Yin, Griswold & Yan, 2002) comb. nov. B A. wuchaoi sp. nov. C A. zhuanghaoyuni sp. nov. D A. wangi sp. nov.