Systematics and biogeography of the spider genus Mallinella Strand, 1906, with descriptions of new species and new genera from Southeast Asia (Araneae, Zodariidae)

Abstract

The systematics status of the spider genus Mallinella Strand, 1906 (Araneae, Zodariidae), the phylogenetic relationshipof the species within the genus and its relationships to other zodariids were investigated by means of cladistic analysis ofmorphological data. Mallinella is redefined and characterized by a single synapomorphy: the presence of posterior ventralspines situated in front of the spinnerets arranged in a single row. The genus is clearly palaeotropical, occurring in Africa,Indian subcontinent, Indo-Burma, Sundaland, Wallacea and Polynesia-Micronesia.Two hundred and two (202) Mallinella species are treated. One hundred and one (101) species are described as newand placed in twenty-two (22) species-groups, making Mallinella the largest zodariid genus. Nineteen (19) species are redescribed, the conspecific sex of seven (7) species is discovered and described for the first time. Fifteen (15) new com-binations are proposed. Nine (9) Storena species are here transferred to Mallinella: M. beauforti (Kulczyński, 1911) comb.nov., M. sciophana (Simon, 1901) comb. nov., M. sobria (Thorell, 1890) comb. nov., M. fasciata (Kulczyński, 1911)comb. nov., M. vicaria (Kulczyński, 1911) comb. nov., M. redimita (Simon, 1905) comb. nov., M. melanognatha (van Has-selt, 1882) comb. nov., M. nilgherina (Simon, 1906) comb. nov., M. vittata (Thorell, 1890) comb. nov. Two Storena spe-cies are transferred to Asceua: A. dispar (Kulczyński, 1911) comb. nov., A. quinquestrigata (Simon, 1905) comb. nov. OneStorena species is transferred to Oedignatha (Liocranidae): O. aleipata (Marples, 1955) comb. nov. One Storena speciesis transferred to Cybaeodamus: C. lentiginosus (Simon, 1905) comb. nov. Storena tricolor Simon, 1908 is transferred tothe Asteron complex of Australia. Three Storena and two Mallinella species are misplaced; they belong to undescribedgenera (S. kraepelini Simon, 1905; S. lesserti Berland, 1938; S. parvula Berland, 1938; M. khanhoa Logunov, 2010; M.rectangulata Zhang et al., 2011). Mallinella vittata (Thorell, 1890) comb. nov. is revalidated and removed from the syn-onymy with M. zebra (Thorell, 1881). Storena vittata Caporiacco, 1955 is removed from homonym replacement (S. ca-poriaccoi Brignoli, 1983) with S. vittata Thorell, 1890 (= M. vittata comb. nov.). Storena annulipes Thorell, 1892 isremoved from its preoccupied name with S. annulipes (L. Koch, 1867) in Storena and transferred to Mallinella; its re-placement name S. cinctipes Simon, 1893 is suppressed.Zodarion luzonicum Simon, 1893, Storena multiguttata Simon, 1893, S. semiflava Simon, 1893 and S. obnubila Si-mon, 1901 are regarded as nomina dubia. Six Indian species were misplaced in Storena; they belong to one of the follow-ing genera: Mallinella, Heliconilla gen. nov., Workmania gen. nov., Heradion, or Euryeidon. These taxa are S. arakuensisPatel & Reddy, 1989, S. debasrae Biswas & Biswas, 1992, S. dibangensis Biswas & Biswas, 2006, S. gujaratensis Tikader& Patel, 1975, S. indica Tikader & Patel, 1975 and S. tikaderi Patel & Reddy, 1989. They are regarded as species incertaesedis.A new genus, Heliconilla gen. nov., is proposed for nine species, six of which are new to science while the otherthree are transferred from Mallinella and Storena. These taxa are: H. irrorata (Thorell, 1887) comb. nov., H. oblonga(Zhang & Zhu, 2009) comb. nov., H. thaleri (Dankittipakul & Schwendinger, 2009) comb. nov.Workmania gen. nov. is established to accommodate two species from Southeast Asia; W. juvenca (Workman, 1896)comb. nov. is transferred from Storena.It is unlikely that the origin of Mallinella dates back more than 100 MYA. Mallinella or its ancestor is believed tohave evolved during the Cretaceous, after the separation of South America from Gondwana, and the greater part of itsevolution took place during the Tertiary. The Asian-Australian lineages of Mallinella could migrate to India via GreaterSomalia before or after the K-T extinction (65 MYA), before the Indian subcontinent joined Asia (ca. 45 MYA).The bio-geographic history of the genus involves plate tectonics during the Cretaceous and the Cenozoic in combination with cli-matic changes and alternating climatic cycles which might have led to episodes of range expansion, isolation of populations and allopatric speciation.

Two new Mallinella species from southern China (Araneae, Zodariidae)

“…According to Dankittipakul et al 2012, this species should belong to sub-group 3 of the fronto species-group. Males can be distinguished from these in other Mallinella species by the spherical median part of the median apophysis and the irregular rolled apex of the conductor in ventral view (Figs 10, 14).…”

“…According to Dankittipakul et al 2012, this species also should belong to sub-group 3 of the fronto species-group, but the plumose hairs on the cymbium ventrally makes that species unique; it is likely that Mallinella pluma belongs to an unknown sub-group of the fronto species-group.…”

“…The spider family Zodariidae is represented by 78 genera and 1068 known species mainly from Africa, Australia and Asia (Platnick 2013), but only 36 species in 7 genera ( Asceua Thorell, Cydrela Thorell, Mallinella Strand, Storenomorpha Simon, Heradion Dankittipakul & Jocqué, Zodariellum Andreeva & Tyschchenko and Heliconilla Pakawin et al) have been reported from China (Platnick 2013; Zhang et al 2012a, b; Dankittipakul et al 2012). …”

“…Until now, 202 Mallinella species have been reported worldwide (Platnick 2013), including 17 Mallinella species from southern China (Song and Kim 1997; Song et al 1999; Wang et al 1999; Yin and Yan 2001; Bao and Yin 2002; Zhang and Zhu 2009; Wang et al 2009; Wang et al 2009; Zhang et al 2011, Zhang et al 2012a; Dankittipakul et al 2012). …”

Three new species and a new record of the spider genus Mallinella Strand, 1906 from Brunei (Araneae, Zodariidae)

“…The palaeotropical genus Mallinella, as redefined by Dankittipakul et al 2012, is characterised by the presence of a single row of short spines on the posterior ventral side of the abdomen just in front of the spinnerets. It is the most speciose genus in Zodariidae, with 64 species occurring in Southeast Asia, including seven species reported from Borneo (Dankittipakul et al 2012;Platnick 2013).…”