Plator insolens Simon, 1880

Zhu, Ming-Sheng, Tang, Gui-Ming, Zhang, Feng & Song, Da-Xiang, 2006, Revision of the spider family Trochanteriidae from China (Araneae: Gnaphosoidea), Zootaxa 1140 (1), pp. 31-51 : 35-37

Plator insolens Simon, 1880

( Figs 1–7 , 46 )

Plator insolens Simon 1880: 106 , pl. 3, figs 4, 5; Zhu & Wang 1963: 468 –469, pl. 3, figs 18, 19, 21, 23; Platnick 1976a: 3 –5, figs 1, 2, 8; Zhu & Shi 1983: 156, fig. 140; Xu & Wang 1987: 28 –29, 49, figs A–D; Song et al. 1999: 431, figs 12D, 258C, H, I; Zhang 1987: 188, fig. 161; Feng 1990: 167, fig. 142.

Diagnosis

This species can be easily distinguished from P. sinicus by the pedipalpus of males with median apophysis wide and almost warship­like rather than narrow and really oval ( Fig. 6 ); the epigynum of females with one pair of leaf­like anterior margins, triangular spermathecae with larger heads ( Figs 4, 5 ).

Redescription

Female total length 8.82. Carapace 2.97 long, 4.32 wide; opisthosoma 5.85 long, 5.20 wide. Carapace almost semicircular, wider than long, light orange with black margins bearing single row of bristles, other areas clothed with fine hairs and sparse, short dark setae, with a carina along posterior margin of carapace ( Fig. 1 ). Anterior eye row straight, posterior eye row recurved. All eyes circular. Eye diameters: AME 0.13, ALE 0.15, PME 0.10, PLE 0.20. Distances between eyes: AME–AME 0.07, AME–ALE 0.05, PME–PME 0.22, PME–PLE 0.25. MOA 0.36 long, front width 0.35, back width 0.45. Chelicerae reddish brown, short, with four promarginal and three retromarginal teeth. Clypeus, endites and sternum light orange. Clypeus longer than wide, arrow­shaped. Maxilla oval. Sternum wider than long with black margins, anterior and posterior edges truncated, rounded laterally; coxae IV separated by roughly two­thirds of their length. Legs orange. Ventral surfaces of anterior two pairs of legs with many erect spiniform bristles ( Fig. 3 ), but leg II not so many as I. Ventral surfaces of posterior two pairs of legs with only a few erect spiniform bristles and spines. Leg formula 2341.

Leg measurements of Plator insolens Simon 1880 , female.

Opisthosoma oval, anterior half wider. Dorsum grey yellow, clothed with small paddle hairs and sparse dark setae bearing spinules. Venter pale yellow, clothed with fine small hairs. Colulus absent. Six spinnerents. Epigynum orange, anteriorly with one pair of leaflike margins, spermathecae triangular and with larger spermathecal heads ( Figs 4–5 ).

Male total length 6.30. Carapace 2.61 long, 3.60 wide; opisthosoma 3.87 long, 3.87 wide. Coloration of body and legs as females, erect spiniform bristles of anterior two pairs of legs less and weaker than those in female. Anterior subtegulum of pedipalpus with a prolateral tubercle rounded distally. Distal half of embolus twisted, narrow leaf­like. Median apophysis large and almost warship­like, more than twice as wide as long, prolateral half of its anterior edge distinctly swelled ( Figs 6–7 ).

Va r i a t i o n

Body length: females 6.50–8.82, males 5.31–6.30.

Material examined

CHINA: Hebei Province, Zhuolu County, N 40°22’, E 115°13’, 4 males and 3 females, September 1993, Ming­Sheng Zhu leg; Anhui Province, Chuxing County, N 32°18’, E 118°18’, 4 females and 1 male, 4 February 1984, Ya­Jun Xu leg. (all MHBU).

Distribution

Northern and Eastern China (Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui).

Biology

Found in crevices of old buildings or under bark of trees in China. Egg­sac, flatrounded and 12.30–12.50 in diameter, each contains about 10 eggs.

Remarks

Platnick (1976a) considered that the male described by Kulczyński (1901) may or may not belong to this species. And from the distributing map ( Fig. 46 ), we can see that its distribution is discontinuous. The investigation of this species needs to be continued.

Figures

FIGURES 46. Map of China, showing distribution of Chinese trochanteriids. 1. Plator insolens Simon. 2. Plator sinicus Zhu & Wang. 3. Plator bowo sp. nov. 4. Plator pandeae Tikader. 5. Plator pennatus Platnick. 6. Plator yunlong sp. nov.

FIGURES 1 – 7. Plator insolens Simon. 1 – 5. Female. 1, carapace, dorsal view; 2, labium, endites, sternum and coxae, ventral view; 3, left leg I, prolateral view; 4, epigynum, ventral view; 5, vulva, dorsal view; 6 – 7. Male left pedipalp. 6, Ventral view; 7, Retrolateral view. Scale bars: 1 – 3, 1 mm; 4 – 7, 0.1 mm.