New leaf- and litter-dwelling species of the genus Pholcus from Southeast Asia (Araneae, Pholcidae)

Abstract

Abstract. We describe eight new species of the genus Pholcus, and document their microhabitats. Four species are assigned to the previously described Pholcus ethagala group: P. tanahrata Huber sp. nov., P. uludong Huber sp. nov., and P. bukittimah Huber sp. nov. from the Malay Peninsula, and P. barisan Huber sp. nov. from Sumatra. These species are all litter-dwellers that build domed sheet webs on the undersides of large dead leaves on the ground. The other four species are assigned to newly created species groups: the P. tambunan group with two species from northern Borneo: P. tambunan Huber sp. nov. and P. bario Huber sp. nov.; and the P. domingo group with two species from the Philippines, Mindanao: P. domingo Huber sp. nov. and P. matutum Huber sp. nov. These latter four species are leafdwellers that build barely visible silk platforms tightly attached to the undersides of live leaves. The R e s e a r c h a r t i c l eurn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:404329BA-FD12-4F24-ABB6-0AC78A11DE54 1 main rationale for this paper is to provide part of the taxonomic and natural history background for upcoming phylogenetic and evolutionary (microhabitat shifts) analyses.

Two new species of the spider genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Tajikistan, with the first description of female Pholcus sidorenkoi Dunin, 1994

“…The most important contributor is Bernhard A. Huber, who divided Pholcus into 32 species groups and described/revised a large number of species (Huber 2011b;Huber et al 2016aHuber et al , 2016b. Nevertheless, the survey of Pholcus is very uneven.…”

“…Nevertheless, the survey of Pholcus is very uneven. For example, most taxonomic contributions on Pholcus published in the past five years focused on Southeast Asia and China (e.g., Yao & Li 2012Peng & Zhang 2013;Yao et al 2015;Huber et al 2016aHuber et al , 2016b, which account for nearly one fifth and one third of the species, respectively. In contrast, species from Central Asia are poorly studied.…”

“…Koch, 1850 currently contains 80 genera and 1514 species (Huber et al 2016a;World Spider Catalog 2016). Members of the family are among the most diverse and abundant web-building spiders throughout the world.…”

The phylogeny of pholcid spiders: a critical evaluation of relationships suggested by molecular data (Araneae, Pholcidae)

“…The first major clade within the Pholcus group of genera (Figure 10) is composed of three Southeast Asian genera ( Calapnita , Panjange , Uthina Simon, 1893) as well as several Southeast Asian and Sri Lankan species groups that were originally tentatively assigned to Pholcus (Huber 2011a; Huber et al 2016a, 2016b, Huber and Dimitrov 2014). We informally call it the ‘ Calapnita - Panjange clade’ because many species in this group are leaf-dwellers, and representatives of Calapnita and Panjange are particularly strongly adapted to life on green leaves.…”

“…Ten species groups previously assigned to Pholcus (in Huber 2011a, Huber et al 2016a, 2016b) are representatives of the ‘ Calapnita - Panjange clade’ (Figure 10). Of these, nine are entirely Southeast Asian; only the ethagala group (now Tissahamia ) has representatives in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka.…”