Conothele deqin sp. nov.

(Figs 17–31)

Type material. Holotype male (DQ-001), Benzilan Town, Deqin County, Diqing County, Yunnan Province, China, 28.2441°N, 99.2989°E, 2117 m, 13 July 2016, collected by Zizhong Yang; deposited at NZMC, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China .

Etymology. The species epithet, a noun in apposition, refers to the type locality.

Diagnosis. The male of C. deqin sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other Conothele species by embolus with a small fish-hook tooth at its tip (Fig. 28), from C. cangshan sp. nov. by the sperm duct, which is thicker than that of the latter in retrolateral view (Fig. 31).

Description. Male (holotype) (Fig. 25). Total length, including chelicerae, 18.60; carapace 8.70 long, 8.80 wide; opisthosoma 7.20 long, 6.20 wide. Carapace black, strongly sclerous, glabrous (Fig. 25). Caput arched. Fovea deep and dark, procurved and U-shaped. Eight eyes in two rows, with the anterior eye row slightly procurved and posterior row straight from above (Fig. 17); eye group 0.80 long, 1.70 wide; ALE-AME 0.30, AME- AME 0.20, PLE-PME 0.06, PME-PME 0.50; MOA 0.72 long, front width 0.70, back width 1.10; ALE: AME: PLE: PME (0.30: 0.20: 0.25: 0.30). Clypeus width 0.30. Chelicerae black with 5 large and 2 small promarginal teeth, 6 large and one small retromarginal teeth (Fig. 20), rastellum conspicuous in dorsal view, consisting of 11 thick spines (Fig. 19). Labium, coxae of palp (maxillae) and sternum reddish brown (Figs 18, 26). Labium 0.97 long, 1.30 wide, with 5 conspicuous cuspules (Fig. 18). Coxae of palp (maxillae) 2.15 long, 1.50 wide, with different cuspule numbers on left and right maxillae, 38 cuspules on left and 44 cuspules on right maxillae (Fig. 18). Sternum 4.70 long, 5.00 wide, with irregularly shaped sigilla in the centre (Fig. 26).

Legs black brown, light-colored ventrally, with long and short brown sparse setae, thorn-like and normal spines. Tibia III with a slightly saddle-like depression dorsally on the basal part (Fig. 27). Tarsi and distal ¼ of metatarsi I and II with scopulae, scopulae absent on tarsi III and IV (Figs 21–24). Filiform trichobothria on all dorsal tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi. Tarsus I with 7 clavate trichobothria dorsally; tarsus II with 10 clavate trichobothria dorsally; tarsus III with 7 clavate trichobothria dorsally; tarsus IV with 4 clavate trichobothria dorsally (Figs 7–10). Metatarsal preening combs absent on all legs. Thick thorn-like spines on legs: femur I, dorsal = 2; patella I, ventral = 8; tibia I, ventral = 52 + 1 broken; metatarsus I, ventral = 18; tarsus I, prolateral = 6, retrolateral = 8; femur II, dorsal = 1; patella II, prolateral = 7 +1 broken; tibia II, ventral = 31; metatarsus II, ventral = 24; tarsus II, prolateral = 9, retrolateral = 10; femur III, dorsal = 1; patella III, dorsal = 18; tibia III, prolateral = 10, retrolateral = 6; metatarsus III, dorsal = 13, ventral = 9; tarsus III, prolateral = 12, retrolateral = 5 + 2 broken; patella IV, prolateral = 1; tibia IV, prolateral = 5; metatarsus IV, ventral = 12; tarsus IV, prolateral = 8. Legs each with 3 tarsal claws, paired claws with 3 denticles. Leg formula: 4123. Measurements of legs: leg I 19.70 (6.50 + 2.80 + 4.80 + 3.80 + 1.80), leg II 18.80 (6.50 + 3.30 + 4.40 + 3.00 + 1.60), leg III 15.50 (4.40 + 2.90 + 3.60 + 2.60 + 2.00), leg IV 21.40 (7.30 + 3.80 + 5.40 + 3.30 + 1.60).

Opisthosoma brown, scattered with thick and slender black setae. Spinnerets brownish yellow, PMS onesegmented, 0.90 long, PMS-PMS 0.40; PLS three-segmented, 2.10 long, covered with brown spines, apical segment dome-shape. Palpal bulb simple, embolus elongated and slender (Figs 29–31), with a small fish-hook tooth at its tip, cymbium dorsal with 5 clavate, 4 filiform and 12 broken trichobothria (Figs 28, 30).

Distribution. Yunnan Province (Diqing County), China.

Remarks. We preliminarily treat the male collected in Deqin, Yunnan Province as a different species ( C. deqin sp. nov.) from female C. yundingensis found in Tengchong, Yunnan Province for the same reason given above. Two species are geographically isolated by the long distance (c. 300 km apart) and two large rivers, Lancangjiang and Nujiang. The species is known only from male specimens.