Abstract
Prior to this study the genus Tigidia Simon, 1892 of the Brush-footed Spider family Barychelidae was represented by eight species endemic to Madagascar and Mauritius Islands. The first occurrence of Tigidia in India is reported here with the description of three new species from the Western Ghats, T. sahyadri sp. nov. from Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka; T. nilgiriensis sp. nov. from Kotagiri, Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu and T. rutilofronis sp. nov. from Maruthamalai, Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. This genus is probably a Gondwana relict. Natural history information is provided for all the species.
Highlights
The Brush-footed Spider family Barychelidae is represented worldwide by 44 genera and 303 species (Platnick 2011)
This article forms part of a special series on the Western Ghats of India, disseminating the results of work supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank
A fundamental goal of CEPF is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation
Summary
The Brush-footed Spider family Barychelidae is represented worldwide by 44 genera and 303 species (Platnick 2011) Thirteen of these genera have only a single pair of spinnerets (Raven 1994; Dippenaar-Schoeman 2002). Diplothele and Tigidia are very close allied genera but Raven (1985) listed two distinct characters to distinguish between them, namely, ocular area wider behind than in front and the presence of preening comb on metatarsi (Image 1). We report on the occurrence of the genus Tigidia in India, a new addition to the generic spider list for the Indian subcontinent and adding to the list of species, which are common between the African and Indian subcontinents (Gondwanan relicts). We describe three new species, based only on female specimens as no males were sampled during the study (September 2009 to May 2010) and provide notes on the natural history for all the new species
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