Four new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Qiongthela from Hainan Island, China (Mesothelae, Liphistiidae).

Li Yu,Fengxiang Liu,Zengtao Zhang,Yan Wang,Daiqin Li,Xin Xu

doi:10.3897/zookeys.911.48703

Abstract

The primitively segmented spider genus Qiongthela Xu & Kuntner, 2015 consists of seven species that are distributed in Hainan Island, China and southern Vietnam. Of the seven species, five are known from Hainan Island. In this study, four more Qiongthela species collected from Hainan Island are diagnosed and described as new to science based on morphological characters: Q. baotingsp. nov. (♂♀), Q. qiongzhongsp. nov. (♂♀), Q. sanyasp. nov. (♂♀), Q. yinggezuisp. nov. (♂♀). To facilitate future identification, the GenBank accession codes of the DNA barcode gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), for all the type specimens are also provided.

Highlights

It is constrained to East (China and Japan) and Southeast (Indonesia (Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) Asia (Xu et al 2015a, b, 2016; World Spider Catalog 2020)
There are only seven named species, five of which are known from Hainan Island, China: Q. baishensis Xu, 2015, Q. bawang Xu, Liu, Kuntner & Li, 2017, Q. jianfeng Xu, Liu, Kuntner & Li, 2017, Q. wuzhi Xu, Liu, Kuntner & Li, 2017, and Q. yini Xu, Liu, Kuntner & Li, 2017 (Fig. 1C); the other two of which, Q. australis (Ono, 2002) and Q. nui (Schwendinger & Ono, 2011), are distributed in southern Vietnam (Fig. 1C) (Ono 2002; Schwendinger and Ono 2011; Xu et al 2015a, b, 2017b; Word Spider Catalog 2020)
We diagnosed and described four more new Qiongthela species collected from Hainan Island based on both male and female genital morphology

Summary

Introduction

As the sole extant lineage of the suborder Mesothelae, the primitively segmented spider family Liphistiidae is unique in having segmented plates on the abdomen (i.e., abdominal tergites) and in bearing spinnerets centrally on the ventral abdomen (Pocock 1892; Platnick and Gertsch 1976; Coddington and Levi 1991; Haupt 2003; Xu et al 2015a, b). In alcohol carapace light reddish brown; opisthosoma light brown, with brown 12 tergites, close to each other, the first 2–7 larger than others, and the fourth largest; sternum narrow, nearly twice as long as wide; a few fine pointed hairs running over the ocular area; chelicerae with promargin of cheliceral groove containing 10 denticles of variable size; legs with firm hairs and spines; 7 spinnerets.

Results

Conclusion