Meotipa striata, Deng & Agnarsson & Chen & Liu, 2022

Deng, Zhongwei, Agnarsson, Ingi, Chen, Zhanqi & Liu, Jie, 2022, Meotipa species (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China, ZooKeys 1082, pp. 153-178 : 153

Meotipa striata sp. nov.

Figures 8A-H , 10

Type material.

Holotype female (CBEE). Yunnan Province: Mengla County, Wangtianshu Scenic Area (21.62°N, 101.58°E, 680 m), 15 November 2019, J. Chen, J. Liu, Z.C. Li & B. Liang leg.

Etymology.

The species epithet refers to the black and yellow stripes on the abdomen of the specimen.

Diagnosis.

The new species is similar to M. spiniventris (Figs 4A-H , 5A-H ) and M. capacifaba (see Li et al. 2020: figs 1A-J, 2A-E, 3A-E) in sharing characters such as the raised eyes, a marking in the middle of carapace, and two conspicuous copulatory openings. It can be distinguished from the two species by the following characters: (1) the atrium is divided into two circular openings by the epigynal septum in M. capacifaba (see Li et al. 2020: figs 2A, B) and M. spiniventris (Fig. 4D-H ), but not in M. striata sp. nov.; (2) the copulatory ducts gradually narrow from copulatory openings to spermathecae in M. striata sp. nov. (Fig. 8F ) and M. spiniventris (Fig. 3F ), but swell into sphere-shaped in M. capacifaba (see Li et al. 2020: figs 2A, B).

Description.

Female (holotype). Total length 2.41; Prosoma length 0.96, width (at middle) 0.83, height (at middle) 0.61; Opisthosoma length 1.4, width (at middle) 1.10, height (at middle) 1.50; Eye diameters: ALE 0.07, AME 0.08, PLE 0.08, PME 0.08; Eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.03, ALE-ALE 0.23, PLE-ALE contiguous, PLE-PLE 0.28, PME-PME 0.08, PME-PLE 0.06, AME-ALE 0.03; Clypeus height (at middle) 0.26, width (at middle) 0,14; Measurements of legs: Leg I (right) 9.30 [2.80, 0.45, 2.12, 3.01, 0.92], II (right) 5.85 [1.96, 0.36, 1.21, 1.51, 0.81], III (right) 4.85 [1.40, 0.22, 0.80, 1.39, 0.50], IV (right) 6.86 [2.50, 0.40, 1.42, 1.87, 0.67]. Carapace rather ovate with bar-shaped longitudinal narrow fovea; cephalic area relatively short and narrow. All eyes uniform in size, strongly recurved; dark AME surrounded by red-brown rings; PME pearly white surrounded by black rings (Fig. 8A ). Sternum yellow, subtle heart-shaped, lateral margins slightly indented (Fig. 8C ). Labium contiguous with the sternum, white, approximately triangular in shape. Chelicera vertical, white with black fang (Fig. 8B ). Legs yellowish white with small hairs and bearing a few dark short spines; coxae and femora white with pale black spots; the ends of metatarsi with pale brown band (Fig. 8B ). Leg formula 1423. Pedipalp white, short, single-clawed, with many short hairs. Opisthosoma oval, provided with yellowish setae. Abdomen with black patch and snowy white patches medially, dorsally with four lanceolate spines; spinnerets oriented downwards (Fig. 8A ). Copulatory openings large, separated from each other, with mating plugs (Fig. 8D ); copulatory ducts gradually narrow from copulatory opening to spermathecae and bend, vertical at lateral sides of spermathecae (Fig. 8F ); spermathecae spherical (Fig. 8G ); fertilization ducts located on the basal of spermathecae, facing each other (Fig. 8H ).

Male. Unknown.

Distribution.

China (Yunnan) (Fig. 10 ).

Figures

Figure 3. Meotipa picturata Simon, 1895 A-C female habitus (A dorsal B prolateral C ventral). D-H epigynum (D ventral, on the body E, F in the alcohol E ventral F dorsal G, H in gum arabic G ventral H dorsal). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-H). Abbreviations: CD = copulatory duct, FD = fertilization duct, S = spermathecae.

Figure 4. Meotipa spiniventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) A-C female habitus (flattened black spines on the abdomen and legs were broken off during taking photographs) (A dorsal B Prolateral C ventral). D-H epigynum (D ventral, on the body E, F in the alcohol E ventral F dorsal G, H in gum arabic G ventral H dorsal). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-H). Abbreviations: CO = copulatory opening, CD = copulatory duct, FD = fertilization duct, S = spermathecae.

Figure 5. Meotipa spiniventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) A-B male habitus (flattened black spines on the abdomen were absolutly absent) (A dorsal B prolateral). C-H pedipalp (C-E in the alcohol C prolateral D ventral E retrolateral F-H in gum arabic F prolateral G ventral H retrolateral). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-I). Abbreviations: E = embolus, MA = median apophysis, ST = subtegulum, T = tegulum.

Figure 8. Meotipa striata sp. nov. A-C female habitus (some flattened black spines on the abdomen and legs were broken off during taking photographs) (A dorsal B prolateral C ventral). D-H epigynum (D ventral, on the body E, F in the alcohol E ventral F dorsal G, H in gum arabic G ventral H dorsal). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-H). Abbreviations: CO = copulatory opening, CD = copulatory duct, FD = fertilization duct, S = spermathecae, SE = stuck emboli.

Figure 10. Map with sampling localities for Meotipa species from China: 1 M. argyrodiformis 2 M. pulcherrima 3 M. picturata 4 M. spiniventris 5 M. vesiculosa 6 M. pseudopicturata sp. nov. 7 M. striata sp. nov ..