Taxonomic notes on the genus Makdiops Crews amp; Harvey, 2011 in India (Araneae: Selenopidae).

Abstract

The selenopid genus Makdiops Crews Harvey, 2011 was recently erected by Crews and Harvey (2011) with Selenops montigena Simon, 1889 as the type species. The genus represents medium-sized, usually high-altitude-dwelling spiders that can be diagnosed by the pattern of ventral spination of the anterior tibiae and metatarsi (4-3, 3-3 or 3-2) and by the absence of tarsal scopulae (Crews Harvey 2011). The genus is restricted to India (five species) and Nepal (one species) (Crews Harvey 2011; Caleb Sankaran 2020; World Spider Catalog 2020). While erecting the new genus, Crews and Harvey (2011) transferred two species formerly placed in Selenops Latreille, 1819: Selenops montigena Simon, 1889 and Selenops agumbensis Tikader, 1969. However, they did not examine the types of these two species due to their unavailability, and both these transfers were based either only on the original or subsequent descriptions/re-descriptions of these species. In this paper, we present images of the types of these two species and transfer Selenops shevaroyensis Gravely, 1931 to Makdiops. Additionally, we provide supplementary descriptions for the types of M. montigena, M. agumbensis and M. shevaroyensis comb. nov..