Phintella aequipeiformis Zabka, 1985

Luong, Phung Thi Hong, Yamasaki, Takeshi & Eguchi, Katsuyuki, 2016, Conspecificity of Phintella aequipeiformis Zabka, 1985 and P. lucai Zabka, 1985 (Araneae: Salticidae) confirmed by DNA barcoding, Revue suisse de Zoologie 123 (2), pp. 283-290 : 286-289

Phintella aequipeiformis Zabka, 1985

Figs 3-4

Phintella aequipeiformis Zabka, 1985: 427 , figs 422-425, 450. – Xie, 1993: 358, figs 8-10. – Peng et al., 1993: 151, figs 518-523. – Song et al., 1999: 537, figs 307I, 328A. – Yin et al., 2012: 1423, fig. 775a-f. Holotype deposited in HNHM, not examined.

Phintella lucai Zabka, 1985: 430 , figs 444-446. Syn. nov. Holotype deposited in HNHM, not examined.

Material examined: Vietnam: MHNG, LC105661 , Sal- LP-0531 ; 1 male; Tuyen Quang Province, Na Hang Nature Reserve ; 11.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – MHNG, LC105663 , Sal-LP-0587 ; 1 male; LC105664 , Sal- LP-0588 ; 1 female; LC105672 , Sal-LP-0729 ; 1 female; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 18.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – NSMT, LC105662 , Sal- LP-0586 ; 1 male; LC105665 , Sal-LP-0589 ; 1 female; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 18.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – IEBR-AR-0272 ; 2 males; IEBR-AR-0331 ; 1 female; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 18.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – IEBR-AR-0382 ; 1 female; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 23.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – LPC, Sal-LP-0048 ; 1 female; Quang Binh Province, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park ; 23.IV.2014; leg. Luong. – LPC, Sal-LP-0325 ; 1 female; LC105658 , Sal- LP-0329 ; 1 male; Phu Tho Province, Xuan Son National Park ; 10.VIII.2014; leg. Luong. – LPC, LC105659 , Sal-LP-0490 ; 1 female; LC105660 , Sal-LP-0491 ; 1 male; Tuyen Quang Province, Na Hang Nature Reserve ; 10.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – LPC, Sal-LP-0730 ; 1 female; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 18.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – LPC, LC105666 , Sal-LP-0622 ; 1 male; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 19.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – LPC, LC105669 , Sal-LP-0726 ; 1 female; LC105670 , Sal-LP-0727 ; 1 female; LC105671 , Sal-LP-0728 ; 1 female; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 23.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki. – LPC, LC105673 , Sal-LP-0731 ; 1 male; Ha Tinh Province, Vu Quang National Park ; 24.III.2015; leg. Luong & Yamasaki.

Diagnosis: Markings on abdomen of both sexes characteristic, i.e. one white and two black bands of hairs running transversally over dorsum. Embolus short and slightly bent, claw-like; retrolateral corner of anterior part of bulbus rounded, forming a so-called “rounded flaky outgrowth” ( Zabka, 1985). Spermathecae large, weakly constricted, and divided into relatively small anterior part and large posterior part.

Measurements: Male (n=9). Body length 3.32-4.50; carapace length 1.72-2.25; abdomen length 1.53-2.21, width 0.94-1.36; ERW anterior 1.28-1.64; ERW median 1.06-1.41; ERW posterior 1.19-1.54; ALE-PME 0.38- 0.55; ALE-PLE 0.79-1.09.

Female (n=12). Body length 3.24-4.83; carapace length 1.56-1.97; abdomen length 1.60-2.65, width 1.21-2.00; ERW anterior 1.28-1.51; ERW median 1.08-1.29; ERW posterior 1.24-1.44; ALE-PME 0.42-0.46; ALE-PLE 0.85-0.86.

Description: Male ( Fig. 3 A-C, G, I). Carapace mainly black on dorsal surface, yellowish cream tinged with black on lateral surface; AME fringed with whitish gray hairs; dorsum of cephalic part covered with shiny scale-like hairs; area between PME and PLE covered with white scale-like hairs forming white patch; finshaped area behind fovea yellowish cream, covered with white scale-like hairs; large yellowish area on lateral surface of thoracic part extending from above coxa II to coxa IV, covered with white scale-like hairs. Clypeus brown to yellowish brown, sparsely covered with whitish transparent scale-like hairs. Chelicera long, pale brown, weakly tinged with brown, with one retrolateral and two prolateral teeth at basal end of fang furrow. Fang long, pale brown. Maxilla and labium pale yellow, weakly tinged with gray or brown. Sternum pale yellow. Abdomen oval, covered with several kinds of scale-like hairs; anterior quarter of dorsum covered with transparent scale-like hairs; middle part of dorsum blackish, with white scale-like hairs forming one white and two black transversal bands, white band running between black bands; posterior part of dorsum yellowish cream, posterior end black, covered with transparent scale-like hairs. Legs with a pattern of black and pale yellow; small patches on dorsum of patellae and tibiae covered with white hairs.

Palp ( Fig. 4 A-E). Segments with pattern of black and pale yellow; dorsum of patella to cymbium covered with white scale-like hairs. Cymbium slender, tapering with long black hairs. Embolus short and slightly bent, claw-like. Retrolateral corner of anterior part of bulbus rounded, forming so-called “rounded flaky outgrowth” (see Zabka, 1985). Posterior lobe of bulbus well-developed. Sperm duct distally strongly curving behind rounded flaky outgrowth, proximally running along retrolateral margin of bulbus. Retrolateral tibial apophysis short, with relatively thin tip.

Female ( Fig. 3 D-F, H). Carapace almost as in male; its lower lateral surface pale yellow, lighter than that of male, covered with white hairs. Clypeus densely covered with white scale-like hairs. Chelicera, fang, maxilla and labium almost as in male, except for shorter chelicera. Abdomen almost as in male, but more rotund. Legs and palp mostly pale yellow.

Genitalia ( Fig. 4 F-I). Copulatory openings small, situated near anterior margin of spermathecae. Copulatory ducts narrow, sclerotized, strongly curving. Spermathecae large, weakly constricted, divided into relatively small anterior part and large posterior part; connection points with copulatory ducts located near weak constriction. Fertilization ducts connected to anterior part of spermathecae.

Distribution: Vietnam: Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh ( Zabka, 1985; present study); China: Hunan, Guangxi ( Xie, 1993; Peng et al., 1993; Song et al., 1999; Yin et al., 2012).

Habitat: This species was found in secondary forests, often on shrubs along forest trails and along forest edges.

Remarks: This species shows some variations in the shape of the bulbus and in the length of the palpal tibia ( Fig. 4A, D, E ), as well as in the shape of the spermathecae ( Fig. 4 F-I). These varieties occur sympatrically. Our results from DNA barcoding ( Fig. 2 ) strongly suggest that all these varieties belong to a single species.

Figures

Fig. 3. Phintella aequipeiformis specimens from Vietnam; males (A-C, G, I), females (D-F, H). (A-B, D-E) Body, dorsal view. (C, F) Body, lateral view. (G-H) Prosoma, frontal view. (I) Chelicera and fang, ventral view. Scale lines 1 mm (B-C, E-F), 0.5 mm (G- H), 0.2 mm (I). Specimen codes: Sal-LP-0586 (A, I), Sal-LP-0329 (B-C), Sal-LP-0490 (D-F), Sal-LP-0622 (G), Sal-LP-0325 (H).

Fig. 4. Phintella aequipeiformis specimens from Vietnam; males (A-E), females (F-I). (A, D-E) Palp, ventral view. (B) Palp, retrolateral view. (C) Palp, dorsal view. (F, H) Epigyne, ventral view. (G, I) Epigyne, dorsal view. Abbreviations: CD, copulatory duct; CO, copulatory opening; FD, fertilization duct; FO, rounded flaky outgrowth. Scale lines 0.2 mm (A-E), 0.05 mm (F-I). Specimen codes: Sal-LP-0329 (A-C), Sal-LP-0491 (D), Sal-LP-0587 (E), Sal-LP-0048 (F-G), Sal-LP-0588 (H-I).

Fig. 2. Neighbor-joining tree generated under the K2P distance model, based on a dataset consisting of 851 bp sequences. Numbers beside nodes refer to bootstrap values (1000 replicates). DDBJ/Genbank accession numbers are placed before species names.