Rhene flavicomans Simon, 1902

Figs 1–4, 72

Rhene flavicomans Simon, 1902: 33 (D ♂); Prószyński, 1984: 119–121 (♂, D ♀); Jastrzębski, 1997: 51, figs 9–11 (♀).

Rhene biembolusa Song & Chai, 1991: 23, figs 14A–E (D ♂); holotype ♂, in the Institute of Zoology, Beijing, not examined; syn. n.

For a complete list of taxonomic references see WSC (2022).

Material. INDIA: Kerala: 1 ♂ (RTC), Trivandrum (8.56408°N, 76.89197°E), 39 m a.s.l., 20.06.2019 , leg. R. Tripathi; Assam: 1 ♀ (NZC-ZSI/AA383), Sontipur, Biswanath Charali (26.6739°N, 92.8577°E), 69 m a.s.l., 29.05.2016, leg. S. Kundu & D. Singha.

Comments. Rhene biembolusa Song & Chai (1991) was described based on a holotype male from Bawangling, Hainan, China. The species was later discovered from mainland China and both sexes were illustrated (Peng et al., 1994; Song et al., 1999; Peng, 2020). Based on the original and subsequent illustrations, the species shows clear resemblance in genital morphology to R. flavicomans . The male palp with short, ventrally curved embolus accompanied with slightly broad terminal apophysis resembling the embolus; epigyne with medially placed pair of oval openings; copulatory ducts broad, subparallel (cf. Figs 1–4, illustrations in Prószyński (1984: 119–121), figs 9–11 in Jastrzębski (1997), figs 14A–E in Song & Chai (1991), figs 5–9 in Peng et al. (1994) and figs 280a–i in Peng et al. (2020)). Therefore, here R. biembolusa is considered as a junior synonym of R. flavicomans .

Distribution. India (Assam, Kerala (present data), West Bengal (Caleb, 2019)), Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, China (WSC, 2022) (Fig. 72).