Meotipa spiniventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869)

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

Meotipa spiniventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869)

Figures 4A-H , 5A-H , 9 , 10

Theridion spiniventre O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869: 384, pl. 12, figs 52-56 (description of male); Hammen 1949: 76, figs 1-3 (male and female); Yoshida 1977: 9, figs 1-4 (male and female); Song 1987: 128, fig. 89 (male and female).

Theridion buitenzorgi Strand, 1907: 412 (female).

Chrysso spiniventre Yaginuma, 1986: 46, fig. 24-5 (transferred from Theridion ); Zhu 1998: 66, fig. 38A-D (male and female); Song et al. 1999: 107, fig. 50E-L (male and female); Yoshida 2003: 130, figs 346-350 (male and female).

Meotipa spiniventris Yoshida, 2009: 378, figs 214-216 (transferred from Chrysso ).

Material examined (holotype not examined).

Yunnan Province: 1♀, Mengla County, Menlun Town, Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (21.93°N, 101.25°E, 570 m), 22 March 2018, F.X. Liu & Z.C. Li leg. (CBEE); Hainan Province: 1♂, 5♀, Wuzhishan City, Shuiman Township, Wuzhishan (18.88°N, 109.66°E, 140 m), 15 April 2018, F.X. Liu & Z.C. Li leg. (CBEE); 3 ♀, Wuzhishan City (18.78°N, 109.52°E, 350 m), 15 April 2018, F.X. Liu & Z.C. Li leg. (CBEE); 2 ♀, Wuzhishan City, Diaoluo Mountain (18.78°N, 109.52°E, 136 m), 17 April 2018, F.X. Liu & Z.C. Li leg. (CBEE); Sichuan Province: 1♀, Ya’an City, Lushan County, Longmen Town (30.25°N, 103.02°E, 810 m), 28 September 2018, F.X. Liu, Z.C. Li & Z.W. Deng leg. (CBEE); 1♀, Chengdu City, Qinglong Lake Park (30.65°N, 104.20°E, 490 m), 30 September 2018, F.X. Liu, Z.C. Li & Z.W. Deng leg. (CBEE); 1♀, Chengdu City, Tazishan Park (30.64°N, 104.12°E, 490 m), 30 September 2018, F.X. Liu, Z.C. Li & Z.C. Deng leg. (CBEE); Hubei Province: 1♀, Jianshi Country, Chaoyang Temple (30.60°N, 109.71°E, 490 m), 7 October 2018, F.X. Liu, Z.C. Li & Z.W. Deng leg. (CBEE).

Diagnosis.

Meotipa spiniventris is similar to M. multuma Murthappa et al., 2017 (see Murthappa et al. 2017: figs 3A-E, 4E, F) in shared characters such as raised eyes, forward slanting clypeus and two separated copulatory openings. Females of M. spiniventris can be distinguished from M. multuma by the following combination of characters: (1) the carapace has a central black band, opisthosoma with four median yellow and white patches, and four or five lanceolate spines posteriorly in M. spiniventris (Fig. 4A ), but carapace without any marking, opisthosoma with a median black patch and 12-15 lanceolate spines posteriorly in M. multuma (see Murthappa et al. 2017: fig. 3A-C); (2) copulatory ducts short, extending to the lateral part of spermathecae (Fig. 4E ) and fertilization ducts short in M. spiniventris (Fig. 4F, H ), but the copulatory ducts are long and convoluted around spermathecae and fertilization ducts longer, twisted in M. multuma (see Murthappa et al. 2017: figs 3D, E, 4E, F); (3) the tip of the conductor is uniquely strongly sclerotized and twisted in M. spiniventris (Fig. 5C ).

Description.

Female. Total length 2.23; Prosoma length 1.03, width (at middle) 0.71, height (at middle) 0.51; Opisthosoma length 1.20, width (at middle) 0.81, height (at middle) 1.05; Eye diameters: ALE 0.06, AME 0.07, PLE 0.06, PME 0.07; Eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.06, ALE-ALE 0.11, PLE-ALE contiguous, PLE-PLE 0.17, PME-PME 0.07, PME-PLE 0.05, AME-ALE 0.02; Clypeus height (at middle) 0.15, width (at middle) 0.13; Measurements of legs: Leg I (right) 9.19 [2.95, 0.47, 2.09, 2.93, 0.75], II (right) 4.83 [1.77, 0.36, 1.09, 1.16, 0.45], III (right) 2.98 [1.20, 0.22, 0.50, 0.72, 0.34], IV (right) 6.57 [2.21, 0.37, 1.21, 1.29, 1.49]. Carapace rhomboid with narrow and bar-shaped longitudinal fovea, glabrous; cephalic area relatively long and broad; clypeus slightly elevated. Eye field raised, all eyes in two rows and nearly uniform in size (Fig. 4A ). Sternum white, subtly heart-shaped. Labium contiguous with the sternum, white with brown, approximately triangular in shape. Chelicera slanting, white with black fang. Yellow legs long and slender with several black lanceolate spines and the top of tarsus, metatarsus and tibia have black ring in leg I. Leg formula 1423. Yellow pedipalp with short hairs (Fig. 4A-C ). Opisthosoma oval higher than long. Abdomen with four black and medially broad setae, dorsum provided with yellow and white (Figs 4B, C ). Venter transparent, without any marking (Fig. 4C ). Two copulatory openings not juxtaposed (Fig. 4D ); copulatory ducts short, inward curving almost 180° and extending to lateral sides of spermathecae (Fig. 4F ); spermathecae oval-shaped; fertilization ducts located on the base of spermathecae (Fig. 4H ).

Male. Total length 1.82; Prosoma length 0.80, width (at middle) 0.70, height (at middle) 0.54; Opisthosoma length 1.02, width (at middle) 0.93, height (at middle) 0.83; Eye diameters: ALE 0.06, AME 0.08, PLE 0.07, PME 0.07; Eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.08, ALE-ALE 0.15, PLE-ALE contiguous, PLE-PLE 0.19, PME-PME 0.07, PME-PLE 0.06, AME-ALE 0.04; Clypeus height (at middle) 0.19, width (at middle) 0.15; Measurements of legs: Leg I (right) 11.08 [3.36, 0.44, 2.83, 3.52, 0.93], II (right) 6.1 [1.62, 0.36, 1.54, 1.87, 0.71], III (right) 3.55 [1.24, 0.21, 0.74, 0.97, 0.39], IV (right) 7.87 [2.92, 0.38, 2.08, 1.88, 0.61]. Like the female, except by the following. Dwarf in size compared to female (4/5 size of female), without characteristic lanceolate spines. Prosoma with distinct black streaks medially, and a wide red streak in the front of the black streaks; clypeus slightly bulged; eye field wide, elevated, with two long hairs in the middle of AME, white appearance except bulged out black anterior medians (Fig. 5A ). Sternum heart shaped; maxillae, labium with dense tuft of hairs; Leg formula 1423 (Fig. 5B ). Opisthosoma with alternate deep green and white patches, slightly high, without humps (Fig. 5A ). Tegulum spherical, with median apophyses (Fig. 5D ); conductor transparent, spirals upward beyond cymbium, with distal end strongly sclerotized (Fig. 5F ); embolus long, narrow, with a sharp tip, almost completely covered by conductor (Fig. 5H ).

Distribution.

China (Jiangxi; Hainan, newly recorded; Hubei, newly recorded; Sichuan, newly recorded; Yunnan, newly recorded; Taiwan), Japan, Netherlands, Sri Lanka.

Figures

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 9. Field photographs A M. picturata female on its web B M. spiniventris female with egg sac C, D M. pulcherrima female with its spiderlings. Photographs by Zhongwei Deng in Yunnan Province.

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 ..