Four new species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 from Mainland China and Laos (Araneae, Ctenizidae)

Abstract

Here for the first time the presence of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 (Araneae: Ctenizidae) is reported from mainland China and Laos. Four Conothele species collected from the regions are described as new to science, based on the female genital morphology: Conothele baiyunensis Xu, Xu & Liu, sp. n. (Guangdong Province), Conothele daxinensis Xu, Xu & Li, sp. n. (Guangxi Province), Conothele sidiechongensis Xu, Xu & Liu, sp. n. (Yunnan Province, China and Vietnam), Conothele yundingensis Xu, Xu & Li, sp. n. (Yunnan Province).

A new species of Conothele Thorell, 1878 (Aranei: Halonoproctidae) from the northern Western Ghats, India

“…Genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 The members of Conothele and Ummidia share a characteristic dorsal saddle-shaped depression on tibia III [Coyle, 1985;Ortiz, 2007;Decae, 2010], but they differ in terms of their geographical distribution. The genus Conothele has largely been described from the Oriental region and Australia, whereas the genus Ummidia has been reported from the Neotropical, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Central Asian regions [Main, 1957;Haupt, 2006;Zonstein, 2008Zonstein, , 2014Decae, 2010;Xu et al, 2017;Yang, Xu, 2018;Godwin et al, 2018;Decae et al, 2021;Godwin, Bond, 2021]. However, the precise geographic ranges of both genera are incompletely known, as evidenced by the present description of a new Conothele species from a region not known before.…”

Four new species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 (Araneae, Halonoproctidae) from China

“…The former constructs a short, parallel to the surface of ground, superficial burrow, whereas the latter digs a several centimeters long burrow in the soil (Haupt 2006). Moreover, the geographical ranges of Ummidia and Conothele are completely separated, with Conothele being distributed in the Orient and Australasian regions, and with Ummidia being distributed in the New World and Mediterranean regions (Xu et al 2017a; Godwin et al 2018; Yang and Xu 2018; World Spider Catalog 2019).…”

“…The trapdoor is usually covered with a layer of soil, leaf litter, and/or moss, which blend well in the surrounding environment, making them difficult to locate in nature (Fig. 1; Bond and Coyle 1995; Xu et al 2017a; Yang and Xu 2018).…”

“…One of the most obvious shared features by two genera is the presence of a saddle depression on tibia III (Gertsch 1979; Coyle 1981; Ortiz 2007), leading some authors to consider both genera as synonyms (Decae 2010). However, these two genera are completely separated geographically, with Conothele being distributed in the Orient and Australasian regions, and Ummidia being found in the New World and Mediterranean regions (Xu et al 2017a; Godwin et al 2018; Yang and Xu 2018). In addition, they are reciprocally monophyletic, and currently considered as valid genera based on phylogenetic analyses (Godwin et al 2018).…”

“…2). As in other halonoproctid studies (Xu et al 2017a; Yang and Xu 2018), both male and female morphology should be described for a new species; however, often it is impractical or impossible to collect adult males by direct searching or by excavating burrows. The standard DNA alignment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit (COI), which provides the species-specific nucleotide substitution information in the animal barcoding gene region, has been widely used to diagnose species (Brower 2010; Cook et al 2010; Planas and Ribera 2015; Xu et al 2015, 2017b).…”