Genus Sinoalaria Zhao & Li, 2014

Alaria Zhao & Li, 2012: 7 (type species Alaria chengguanensis Zhao & Li, 2012, by original designation).

Sinoalaria Zhao & Li, 2014: 41 (replacement name for Alaria Zhao & Li, 2012, preoccupied in Platyhelminthes by Schrank 1788).

Diagnosis.

Sinoalaria species can be recognised by the following combination of genitalic characters: In males, palpal tibia retrolaterally bears an apophysis (Figs 1B, D, 3B, 5B, D, 7B, D, 9B, D, 15B, D) (vs retrolateral tibial apophysis is lacking in all other theridiosomatid genera); median apophysis distinct, stretching along the longitudinal axis of pedipalp with two curved, pointed distal ends (Figs 1A, 3A, C, 5A, D, 7A, C, 9A, C, 15A, C) (vs never seen in any other theridiosomatid genus); embolus long and whip-shaped, mostly enveloped in conductor (Figs 1A, C, 3A, C, 5A, C, D, 7A, C, 9A, C, 15A, C) (vs embolus not whip-shaped in almost all of theridiosomatid genera, embolus whip-shaped but proportionately much shorter and partly enveloped in Ogulnius O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1882, as in Coddington 1986: figs 100, 101, 116, 118). In females, the epigynal plate possesses a distinct scape (Figs 2E-G, 4E-G, 6D-F, 8E-G, 10E-G, 11C-E, G, 12D, E, 13D-F, 14C-E, 16E-G) (vs scape is absent, or present but reduced in some theridiosomatid genera); vulva centrally with a U-shaped medial structure (Figs 2G, 4G, 6F, 8G, 10G, 11E-G, 12E, F, 13F, 14E, 16G) (vs medial structure lacking, or present but V-shaped in some theridiosomatid genera); copulatory ducts rise and curl up to form two folds (or chambers, or bursae) at each side: the ventral one usually located anteriorly, with lower degree of sclerotization than the dorsal and posterior one (Figs 2G, 4G, 6F, 8G, 10G, 11E-G, 12E, F, 13F, 14E, 16G) (vs such conformation of the copulatory ducts is never seen in any other theridiosomatid genus).

Description.

See Zhao and Li (2012).

Composition and distribution.

Ten species from southwestern China to Laos, Vietnam and to Thailand: Sinoalaria bicornis (♂♀) and S. navicularis (♂♀) from Laos, S. chengguanensis (♂♀), S. nitida comb. nov. (♂♀), S. prolata comb. nov. (♂♀), S. shenhei sp. nov. (♀) and S. shuidi sp. nov. (♀) endemic to China, S. xiaotu sp. nov. (♂♀) endemic to Vietnam, S. cavernicola from Laos and Thailand, S. chi sp. nov. (♂♀) from Vietnam and Thailand.