Taira Lehtinen, 1967

Zhao, Jing-Xia, Wang, Lu-Yu, Irfan, Muhammad & Zhang, Zhi-Sheng, 2021, Furtherrevisionofthemesh-webspidergenus TairaLehtinen, 1967 (Amaurobiidae) with the description of six new species, Zootaxa 5020 (3), pp. 457-488 : 458

Genus Taira Lehtinen, 1967

Taira Lehtinen, 1967: 266 ; Zhang et al. 2008: 502; Wang et al. 2010: 61; Zhu et al. 2017: 573.

Type species. Amaurobius flavidorsalis Yaginuma, 1964 , by original designation and monotypy.

Diagnosis. The genus Taira most closely resembles Amaurobius C.L. Koch, 1837 in having a similar median apophysis on the bulb of the male palp; retrolateral and branched dorsal apophyses on the tibia of the male palp; and the presence of teeth and a wide median lobe in the same position as the copulatory ducts in the epigyne. Taira , however, differs from Amaurobius by the following characters: tegular apophysis protruding distally in Taira , whereas arising basally in Amaurobius ; retrolateral tibial apophysis (RTA) slightly protruding in Taira , whereas strongly protruding in Amaurobius ; exterior branch of the dorsal tibial apophysis (eDTA) shorter than the interior branch of dorsal tibial apophysis (iDTA) in males of Taira , whereas eDTA longer than iDTA in Amaurobius males ( Figs 3C–E , 25C–E ); epigynal teeth wide in Taira females, whereas narrow in Amaurobius females; fertilization ducts retrolaterally curved in Taira females, whereas prolaterally curved in Amaurobius females ( Figs 3F, G , 25F, G ).

Distribution. China, Japan and East Malaysia (Borneo) ( Figs 24 , 28 ).

Composition and species groups division. Seventeen species are currently assigned into two species groups: the T. flavidorsalis species - group and the T. qiuae species - group.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Taira cangshan Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2008. Holotype male (A, C–E), paratype female (B, F–G). A. Male habitus, dorsal view; B. Female habitus, dorsal view; C. Left male palp, prolateral view; D. Same, ventral view; E. Same, retrolateral view; F. Epigyne, ventral view; G. Same, dorsal view.

FIGURE 24. Distribution records of the Taira flavidorsalis-group. Red dots represent new species, green dots represent previously described species. 1 T. borneoensis sp. nov. 2 T. cangshan 3 T. concava 4 T. decorata 5 T. flavidorsalis 6 T. gyaisiensis sp. nov. 7 T. latilabiata 8 T. liboensis 9 T. nyagqukaensis sp. nov. 10 T. obtusa 11 T. sulciformis 12 T. wanzhouensis sp. nov. 13 T. xuanenensis sp. nov. 14 T. yangi sp. nov.

FIGURE 25. Taira qiuae Wang, Jäger & Zhang, 2010. A. Male habitus, dorsal view; B. Female habitus, dorsal view; C. Left male palp, prolateral view; D. Same, ventral view; E. Same, retrolateral view; F. Epigyne, ventral view; G. Same, dorsal view.

FIGURE 28. Distribution records of the Taira qiuae-group.