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| Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, in Yang, He, Yu et Lin, 2023. |
Abstract
Background: Speleoticus Ballarin & Li, 2016 is a relatively small spider genus of the family Nesticidae, currently including five cave-dwelling species, distributed exclusively in East Asia, four of which are known from China.
New information: A new troglobitic spider of the genus Speleoticus from the limestone Cave Hanwang Dong, north-eastern Sichuan, China, is described under the name of S. hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. Detailed descriptions, photographs and a distribution map of the new species are provided.
Keywords: new species, morphology, diagnosis, troglobitic spider, taxonomy
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| Hanwang Dong Cave, type locality of Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. B, C Entrance of Hanwang Dong Cave; D Habitat inside the cave; E Collection inside the cave. |
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| Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin, sp. n., female paratype, live specimens. Photographs by Li He (Chengdu, Sichuan). |
Speleoticus hei Yu & Lin sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Males of S. hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. can be distinguished from those of all other congeners by the direction of the terminal apophysis (MA in Liu and Li (2013)), which is pointed ventrally (Fig. 4A, C and D) (vs. pointed prolaterally) and by the presence of a distinct and heavily-sclerotised median apophysis (Fig. 4A and D) (vs. median apophysis absent). Amongst the species of genus Speleoticus, the female of the new species resembles S. globosus in having a similarly-shaped epigynum, but can be distinguished from the latter by: (1) copulatory openings indistinct (vs. distinct) (cf. Fig. 3A and C and Liu and Li (2013): figs. 32D and 33B); (2) vulval pocket slightly smaller than spermatheca (vs. vulval pocket distinctly larger) (cf. Fig. 3B and D and Liu and Li (2013): figs. 32B, D and 34A); (3) the presence of all eight eyes (vs. eyes absent) (cf. Fig. 3 and Liu and Li (2013): fig. 34D).
Etymology: This species is a patronymic named after Mr. Li He (Chengdu City, China), collector of the types, who has greatly helped us in our research.
Distribution: Known only from the type locality, Hanwang Dong Cave, Guangyuan, Sichuan, China (Fig. 1).
Biology: The types of S. hei Yu & Lin, sp. n. were collected under stones in the moist area about 50–500 m from the entrance in Hanwang Dong Cave.
Weicheng Yang, Lianfeng He, Hao Yu and Yucheng Lin. 2023. A New Cave-dwelling Spider of the Genus Speleoticus (Araneae, Nesticidae) from Sichuan, China. Biodiversity Data Journal. 11: e107751. DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.11.e107751
