Two new genera of Zodariidae (Araneae) from Southeast Asia

Abstract

Two new genera of Zodariidae (Araneae) from Southeast Asia. -Two new genera of Zodariidae, belonging to the Zodariinae and strongly related to Mallinella Strand, are reported from evergreen forests in Thailand and Malaysia. Euryeidon gen. n. is represented by six species, all of which are new: E. monticola sp. n. (the type species; S 9), E. musicum sp. n. (6 9), E. anthonyi sp. n. {6 9), E. sonthichaiae sp. n. (â), E. consideration sp. n. ( 9) and E. schwendingeri sp. n. ( 9). The genus is characterized by its strongly reticulate carapace and widely spaced eyes. Heradion gen. n. is represented by five new species, all known from both sexes, which can be clustered in two species groups on the base of somatic characters. The first group, found in Thailand, consists of Heradion naiadis sp. n. (the type species) and H. peteri sp. n. The second group is restricted to Malaysia and consists of three smaller, long-legged species: H. pernix sp. n., H. damrongi sp. n. and H. luctator sp. n. Heradion is characterized by: carapace smooth, domed; chilum drawn out into a point, pointing forward; sternum with anterior concavity accommodating labium; sclerotized field in front of the spinnerets with rows of hairs; femora inflated dorsally near proximal dorsal spine; coxae I and IV elongated. Keys to the genera of Zodariinae in Southeast Asia and to the species of Euryeidon and Heradion are provided.

New species of Zodariidae (Arachnida: Aranei) from Vietnam

“…Three genera (Euryeidon, Heradion and Melayozodarion) have been described and one genus (Doosia) was re-validated in the last three years. All of them are restricted to SE Asia [Dankittipakul & Jocqué, 2004;Ono, 2007Ono, , 2009Ono & Hashim, 2008]. Of 935 valid species of Zodariidae [Platnick, 2010], 113 species (12%; Table 1) are restricted to the Oriental Region.…”

“…The congenerity of the Chinese species of Asceua with Doosia is also worth further consideration, but this problem is outside the scope of the present work. However, the new species of Asceua (s.lato) described below is close to its Chinese representatives and displays a clearly marked body coloration (Figs 6, 7), which is not typical for the genus [see Dankittipakul & Jocqué, 2004]. Therefore, the assignment of this new species to the genus Asceua (s.lato) is to be considered provisional.…”

“…Three species have been described from Vietnam [Simon, 1904;Ono, 2004b], with all of them being known only from females. According to Dankittipakul & Jocqué [2004], species of the genus Asceua differ from other zodariids of SE Asia by their small body size, the absence of a colour pattern on the dorsum, the laterally compressed bulbous, the cymbium having a strongly developed cymbial fold and the very long and meandering insemination ducts. As the type species, A. elegans Thorell, 1887 from Myanmar, remains known from a single female [Jocqué, 1991: fig.…”

“…The genus is in need of revision, for it contains several species groups with clearly different conformation of the copulatory organs. One of these groups of 9 species was recently assigned to a newly erected genus Heradion [see Dankittipakul & Jocqué, 2004;Chami-Kranon & Ono, 2007]. It is very likely that M. immaculate, recently described from China and Thailand [Zhang & Zhu, 2009a], should also be transferred to Heradion.…”

“…Compared to the faunas of Africa and Australia, the zodariid diversity of this region is considered relatively low [Dankittipakul & Jocqué, 2004]. Of the 77 genera and 935 species of Zodariidae described worldwide [Platnick, 2010], only 113 species (see Table 1) of ten genera and three subfamilies have been recorded from the Oriental Region to date [Jocqué, 1991;Dankittipakul & Jocqué, 2004, 2006Ono & Hashim, 2008;Dankittipakul & Schwendinger, 2009;Sudhikumar et al, 2009]: viz., Cydrelinae (Cydrela Thorell, 1873), Storenomorphinae (Storenomorpha Simon, 1884) and Zodariinae (Asceua Thorell, 1887;Doosia Kishida, 1940;Euryeidon Dankittipakul et Jocqué, 2004;Heradion Dankittipakul et Jocqué, 2004;Hermippus Simon, 1893;Mallinella Strand, 1907;Melayozodarion Ono et Hashim, 2008;Suffasia Jocqué, 1991). The Vietnamese species assigned to the genus Akyttara Jocqué, 1987 [Ono, 2004b] is probably misplaced, and possibly belongs to a new genus (see below under Comments of the genus Asceua).…”