The Southeast Asian Pholcus halabala species group (Araneae, Pholcidae): new data from field observations and ultrastructure

Abstract

The Southeast Asian Pholcus halabala species group is revised and re-delimited, based mainly on field observations (life color pattern, web design, position of egg-sac when carried by female, microhabitat) and ultrastructure (silk spigots, modifications of male cheliceral apophyses). The core group includes six leafdwelling species that have distinctive color patterns in life specimens (black and white or yellowish abdominal marks, dark pattern on posterior half of carapace) and build round to oval silk platforms on the undersides of leaves. Seven further species are tentatively assigned to the group pending further study. Several species originally assigned to the Pholcus halabala group are transferred to three newly proposed species groups, the Ph. krabi, Ph. buatong, and Ph. andulau groups. Nine species are newly described, four in the Ph. halabala group (Ph. khaolek Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. kuhapimuk Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. lintang Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. ubin Huber, sp. nov.); three in the Ph. krabi group (Ph. kipungit Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. krabi Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. narathiwat Huber, sp. nov.); one in the Ph. buatong group (Ph. buatong Huber, sp. nov.); and one in the Ph. andulau group (Ph. lambir Huber, sp. nov.). The females of Ph. satun Huber, 2011 and Ph. schwendingeri Huber, 2011 (both members of the buatong group) are newly described.

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

“…This group (proposed in Huber 2011) includes medium-sized, long-legged spiders (body length ~3.0-4.5, male leg 1 length:~30-40); distinguished from similar species groups in Pholcus (P. minang and P. kerinci groups proposed in Huber 2011, and P. buatong group proposed in Huber et al 2016) by combination of following characters: elongate abdomen slightly angular or pointed dorso-posteriorly (Figs 5,32); six eyes (in contrast to P. kerinci group; only the dubious P. vesculus Simon, 1901 with eight eyes); male eye triads on stalks (Figs 39,48,(77)(78)(79)(80); in contrast to P. kerinci group); male chelicerae with distinct proximal apophyses in frontal position (Figs 12,17,69,74; in contrast to P. kerinci and P. buatong groups), without distal apophyses (in contrast to P. minang group); male palpal trochanter with short retrolateral apophysis and longer to very long ventral apophyses (Figs 11,16,68,73; short only in P. gombak Huber, 2011); male palpal patella dorsally not bulging (in contrast to P. buatong group); palpal tarsus with dorsal elongation (Figs 11, 68;except P. phui Huber, 2011 and P. barisan Huber sp. nov.), bulb with large and often complex appendix and weakly sclerotized embolus, without uncus; procursus highly complex, with dorsal (sometimes rather prolateral) process and hinged distal element; epigynum weakly sclerotized, with small 'knob' (Figs 13,18,70,75; in contrast to P. buatong group).…”

“…The poorly known P. vesculus is assigned tentatively and probably misplaced (see Huber 2011). Originally, P. schwendingeri Huber, 2011 was also assigned tentatively to this group; it has recently been transferred to the newly created P. buatong group (Huber et al 2016).…”

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.…”

“…urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:905CF7B3-A30F-4822-807A-FF0A1A6DAA13 largest genus of Pholcinae and Pholcidae, with 337 described species belonging to 32 species groups and mainly distributed in the Old World (Huber 2011b;Huber et al 2016b;World Spider Catalog 2016). The genus is poorly studied in Tajikistan.…”