Nesticella mollicula (Thorell, 1898)

Lin, Yucheng, Ballarin, Francesco & Li, Shuqiang, 2016, A survey of the spider family Nesticidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Asia and Madagascar, with the description of forty-three new species, ZooKeys 627, pp. 1-168 : 25

Taxon classification Animalia Araneae Nesticidae

Nesticella mollicula (Thorell, 1898)

Erigone mollicula Thorell, 1898: 318 (♂♀).

Howaia inthanoni Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980: 55, fig. 13 (♀), syn. n.

Nesticella mollicula : Tanasevitch 2010: 107.

Remarks.

The authors had the opportunity to see photos of the type material of Nesticella mollicula from Myanmar preserved in the collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Genova, Italy. The morphology of the species is comparable with Nesticella inthanoni described from Thailand by Lehtinen and Saaristo (1980) on the basis of a single female; the specimens have the very short and wide, squared scape, rarely seen in the Nesticella species of the brevipes -group. The small, almost round spermathecae and the long copulatory ducts that are slightly curved outward and visible through the tegument are also the same. Although described from two different countries, the type localities are close to the common border between Myanmar and Thailand and are approximately 200 km apart. Based on the evidence mentioned above, we propose the synonymy of Nesticella inthanoni Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 with Nesticella mollicula (Thorell, 1898).

Distribution.

Myanmar, Thailand.