Asceua trimaculata, Zhang, Bao-Shi & Zhang, Feng, 2018

Zhang, Bao-Shi & Zhang, Feng, 2018, Three new species of the spider genus Asceua from Malaysia (Araneae, Zodariidae), ZooKeys 789, pp. 37-49 : 43-44

Asceua trimaculata sp. n. Fig. 6

Type material.

Holotype ♀, Malaysia, Pahang, Cameron Highlands, Tanah Rata, 04°27.791'N, 101°22.091'E, elev. 1380 m, 22 October 2015, Z.Z. Gao leg. Paratype: 1 ♀, same data as holotype.

Diagnosis.

The females of this new species resemble those of A. lejeunei Jocqué, 1991 (from Congo) in having widely spaced copulatory openings, but can be distinguished by the absence of the paired patches of dorsal opisthosoma which are present in A. lejeunei (Fig. 6 A–F).

Etymology.

The specific name is from the Latin words tri- and maculata, in reference to the three patches on the dorsal opisthosoma.

Description.

Female total length 2.33-2.48. Holotype total length 2.48; carapace 1.21 long, 0.91 wide; opisthosoma 1.24 long, 0.95 wide. Habitus as in Figs 6 A–B. Carapace, dark brown, median part with a black V-shaped patch and a longitudinal black thin band, radial grooves black. Clypeus 0.24 high, dark brown. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.07, ALE 0.09, PME 0.08, PLE 0.09; AME–AME 0.02, AME–ALE 0.02, ALE–ALE 0.34, PME–PME 0.05, PME–PLE 0.12, PLE–PLE 0.46, ALE–PLE 0.05. MOA 0.26 long, frontal width 0.16, back width 0.21. Chelicerae dark brown, with two promarginal teeth and one retromarginal tooth, and terminal part armed with black hairs. Endites yellow brown, apices bright and furnished with dense black hairs. Labium triangular, 0.25 long, 0.28 wide, dark brown. Sternum 0.59 long, 0.61 wide, dark brown, median part shiny, furnished with sparse black setae. Coxae of legs yellowish, other sections brown. Measurements of legs: leg I 2.82 (0.84 + 0.29 + 0.67 + 0.59 + 0.43), II 2.35 (0.68 + 0.23 + 0.49 + 0.58 + 0.37), III 2.06 (0.65 + 0.16 + 0.34 + 0.52 + 0.39), IV 2.93 (0.89 + 0.16 + 0.50 + 1.03 + 0.35). Leg formula: 4123. Opisthosoma covered with black short hairs, lanceolate dorsal scutum dark brown and with blunt edge. Dorsum of opisthosoma black, with three transverse white bands; anterior part of venter yellow brown, posterior part yellowish and with a pair of lateral black patches, spinnerets brown and ringed with black.

Epigyne (Fig. 6 C–F). Plate of epigyne approx. 1.3 times wider than long, copulatory openings situated almost at the middle part of epigyne, posterior epigynum with a pair of ridges; long and winding copulatory ducts visible through integument; spermathecae small, situated posteriorly and well-spaced (approx. 8 times the spermathecal diameter).

Male unknown.

Distribution.

Malaysia (Pahang).

Remarks.

Asceua septemmaculata (Simon, 1893a) was described based only on a male specimen from Cambodia. The patterning of the dorsal opisthosoma differ, in that the pairs of white patches present in A. septemmaculata are absent in the new species, and it is unlikely that the latter is conspecific with A. septemmaculata .

Comments.

There are five Asceua species in the adjacent region that are lacking illustrations: A. bimaculata (Simon, 1904) (from Vietnam), A. heliophila (Simon, 1893b) (from Philippines), A. septemmaculata , A. amabilis and A. quinquestrigata . The descriptions of the sexual organs were very simple. The three new species described here have to be distinguished by different patterns of the dorsal opisthosoma. Asceua trimaculata sp. n. lacks pairs of white patches that all the five known species above possess. Asceua bifurca sp. n. differs from the five species by the rectangular white bands on its dorsal opisthosoma. Asceua curva sp. n. differs from them by possessing the chevron patterning.