Hersilia lelabah Rheims & Brescovit, 2004

Yu, Hao, Zhang, Chengwen, Lu, Qianle & Lin, Yejie, 2024, A survey of Hersilia spiders (Araneae, Hersiliidae) from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 142805-e 142805 : e142805-

Hersilia lelabah Rheims & Brescovit, 2004

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Qianle Lu; individualCount: 4; sex: 1 male, 3 females; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: A6BF900B-7979-5AF4-8E88-FDBBA370AE84; Taxon: scientificName: Hersilia lelabah ; order: Araneae ; family: Hersiliidae ; genus: Hersilia ; specificEpithet: lelabah ; taxonRank: species; scientificNameAuthorship: Rheims & Brescovit; taxonomicStatus: accepted; Location: continent: Asia; country: China; countryCode: CHN; stateProvince: Yunnan; municipality: Jinghong; locality: Mengyang Town, Seasonal Rainforest ; verbatimElevation: 791 m; verbatimCoordinates: 22.163056 ° N, 100.876972 ° E; decimalLatitude: 22.163056; decimalLongitude: 100.876972; georeferenceProtocol: label; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 15-05 - 2024; Event: samplingProtocol: hand picking; samplingEffort: 10 km by foot; eventDate: 18 / 07 / 2022; Record Level: language: en; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Qingyuan Zhao and Zhigang Chen; individualCount: 3; sex: 3 females; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 6312BB17-8CD0-581C-AA60-A01C324BE730; Taxon: scientificName: Hersilia lelabah ; order: Araneae ; family: Hersiliidae ; genus: Hersilia ; specificEpithet: lelabah ; taxonRank: species; scientificNameAuthorship: Rheims & Brescovit; taxonomicStatus: accepted; Location: continent: Asia; country: China; countryCode: CHN; stateProvince: Yunnan; municipality: Jinghong; locality: Guanping County, Shiwudui, Seasonal Rainforest ; verbatimElevation: 888 m; verbatimCoordinates: 22.2280 ° N, 100.8894 ° E; decimalLatitude: 22.228; decimalLongitude: 100.8894; georeferenceProtocol: label; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 01-01 - 2022; Event: samplingProtocol: hand picking; samplingEffort: 10 km by foot; eventDate: 20 / 07 / 2012; Record Level: language: en; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Male (Fig. 4 A – C and Fig. 3 B). Total length 4.69; carapace 1.91 long, 1.76 wide; abdomen 2.78 long, 1.77 wide.

Carapace pear-shaped, basically yellowish-white with border black, with a short and red, sword-shaped medial band starting from behind PME, almost reaching black fovea; cervical groove and radial grooves distinct; eye area dark brown with black eye rings (Fig. 4 A, C and Fig. 3 B). In dorsal view, both anterior eye row ( AER) and posterior eye row ( PER) are distinctly recurved, PER slightly wider than AER (Fig. 4 A). Eye sizes and interdistances: anterior median eyes ( AME) 0.19, anterior lateral eyes ( ALE) 0.04, posterior median eyes ( PME) 0.15, posterior lateral eyes ( PLE) 0.14; distance between AMEs ( AME – AME) 0.19, distance between AME and ALE ( AME – ALE) 0.15, distance between PMEs ( PME – PME) 0.11, distance between PME and PLE ( PME – PLE) 0.19. Length of median ocular quadrangle ( MOQ) 0.42, MOQ anterior width 0.42, MOQ posterior width 0.39. Clypeal height 0.18. Chelicerae with white base and red wine-coloured fangs, with 3 teeth on promargin and 5 on retromargin (Fig. 4 A – C). Sternum, labium and endites nearly cream-coloured (Fig. 4 B). Sternum 1.03 long, 0.93 wide; labium 0.28 long, 0.32 wide; endite 0.49 long, 0.25 wide.

Abdomen dorsally brownish-cream-coloured with brown pattern; with a pair of large lateral dark bands on anterior half; cardiac impression ribbon-shaped, wide; with four pairs of orange-brown muscle impressions and the second pair largest; venter uniformly yellowish-white, without pattern. bS (basal segment of posterior lateral spinneret) 0.84, tS (basal segment of posterior lateral spinneret) damaged (Fig. 4 A – C).

Legs uniformly light yellow, except several reddish, irregular streaks on femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus and tarsus. Leg length: I (3.54, 3.89, —, —), II 11.93 (3.39, 3.63, 4.53, 0.38), III 3.83 (1.20, 1.16, 0.97, 0.50), IV missing (Fig. 4 A – C).

Palp (Fig. 5 A – D). Tibia long, ca. 1.3 × patella length, apically with three strong spines. Cymbium (Cy) long, ca. 1.55 × longer than wide, distally armed with 3 strong apical spines. Tegulum (Te) transversely elongated, oval and slightly bulging, ca. 1.5 × wider than long; sperm duct wide and distinct, orientated clockwise along the margin of the tegulum. Embolar base ( EB) represented by enlarged tubercle, inserted at approximately 11–12 o’clock of tegulum, partly hidden behind median apophysis; the free part of embolus ( ET) filamentous, orientated clockwise, shaped like the number 6, its tip terminating at ca. 11 o’clock position. Median apophysis (MA) C-shaped, originating at central portion of tegulum, gradually tapering towards tip, apex sharp and retrolaterally pointed, terminating at ca. 1 o’clock position.

Female (Fig. 4 D – F and Fig. 3 C). Total length 7.21; carapace 2.71 long, 2.62 wide; abdomen 4.50 long, 3.36 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.14, ALE 0.08, PME 0.17, PLE 0.15; AME – AME 0.18, AME – ALE 0.21, PME – PME 0.13, PME – PLE 0.23. MOQL 0.48, MOQA 0.46, MOQP 0.47. Sternum 1.68 long, 1.29 wide. Measurements of legs: I 13.73 (4.08, 4.01, 4.60, 1.04), II 12.64 (4.27, 4.46, 3.37, 0.54), III 9.57 (2.93, 3.25, 2.25, 1.14), IV 11.02 (3.87, 3.56, 3.06, 0.53). General characters as in male, but distinctly larger in size and lighter in colour (Fig. 4 D – F and Fig. 3 C). See Rheims and Brescovit (2004) for others described.

Genitals (Fig. 6 A – E). Epigynal plate distinctly wider than long, anterior and lateral margins not rebordered; the arrangement of the various parts of the vulva are indistinctly visible through the tegument. Median septum (MS) nearly ⊥ - shaped, consisting of a longitudinal stem and a transverse base; septal stem distinctly narrow, about 2 / 5 length of epigynal plate and about 1 / 7 (the narrowest distance) – 1 / 3 (the widest distance) width of septal base; septal base ca. 1 / 3 of epigyne width. Epigynal atrium (A) large, located at the posterior portion of epigynal plate, divided by septum, represented by two symmetrical, egg-shaped cavities. Copulatory openings (CO) indistinct, located at basal atrial borders. The two lateral borders represented by triangular pockets (P), distinctly protruding. Copulatory ducts ( CD) hyaline and sinuous, almost invisible, ascending in parallel, forming two S-shaped courses, finally connecting to spermathecae. Spermathecae (Sp) small, bean-shaped, located laterally. Seminal receptacles subdivided in 2 chambers, the anterior chamber ( SRA) globular and with a sinuous stalk, while the posterior chamber ( SRP) tubular. Fertilisation ducts ( FD) located on the posterior surface of spermathecae, curved and acicular.

Diagnosis

Medium-sized hersiliids, belonging to the caudata species-group. Males of H. lelabah are similar to those of H. caudata (type species of Hersilia , the core species of the caudata - group, see Baehr and Baehr (1993): 17, figs. 15 c – d, Foord and Dippenaar-Schoeman (2006): 59, figs. 132–133) for the general shape of male palp, but can be differentiated from H. caudata by: (1) median apophysis C-shaped, its apex terminating at ca. 1 o’clock position, pointing retrolaterally (vs. hook-shaped, terminating at ca. 6–7 o’clock position, pointing proximally) (cf. Fig. 5 A, C, D and Baehr and Baehr (1993): figs. 15 c – d); (2) embolus distinctly longer, its tip terminating at ca. 11 o’clock position (vs. proportionally shorter, its tip terminating at ca. 6 o’clock position) (cf. Fig. 5 A and Baehr and Baehr (1993): fig. 15 c). Females of H. lelabah can be distinguished from all other members of the caudata - group by the ⊥ - shaped median septum and by the seminal receptacles subdivided in 2 chambers (Fig. 6 A – E).

Distribution

China (Yunnan; distribution record in Xishuangbanna as in Fig. 1 ), Malaysia.

Notes

Hersilia lelabah was described, based on two female specimens from Kinabalu National Park of Sabah, Malaysia and was assigned to the H. caudata - group in the original paper ( Rheims and Brescovit 2004) and recently reported from China for the first time by Lin and Li (2022), based on three females from Xishuangbanna. However, the male of H. lelabah has not been found so far ( Rheims and Brescovit 2004, Lin and Li 2022, WSC 2024).

While examining the spider specimens collected from Xishuangbanna, we found pairs of Hersilia specimens in the same location. Therefore, it is very likely they are the opposite sexes of the same species. Based on the somatic and epigynal charaters, we identified the female as H. lelabah ( Rheims and Brescovit 2004) . The habitus, markings and leg spination of the male specimen is similar to the female H. lelabah (Fig. 3 B, C and Fig. 4 ) and palpal structures conform to the caudata - group. As a result, we matched the females and males together as H. lelabah .

A difference is exhibited between the newly-collected females and the original drawing by Rheims and Brescovit (2004), related to different courses of copulatory ducts: copulatory ducts forming two S-shaped courses in the new materials, while ascending obliquely in the original drawing (cf. Fig. 6 E and Rheims and Brescovit (2004): fig. 9). In consideration of that, copulatory ducts are totally transparent and almost invisible in alcohol, while the S-shaped courses of copulatory ducts can be easily overlooked (as in Fig. 6 C). Despite of the difference just mentioned, our new materials bear a striking similarity to the original illustrations: the bean-shaped spermathecae and the subdivided seminal receptacles, the globular anterior chamber with a sinuous stalk, the tubular posterior chamber and the similar abdominal pattern with a ribbon-shaped cardiac impression and pairs of orange-brown muscle impressions, leave no doubts that our identification is correct.

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution records of Hersilia species in Xishuangbanna.

Figure 3. Hersilia lelabah from Xishuangbanna, living specimen (A) and frontal views of prosoma (B, C). A Female, dorsal view; B Male; C Female. Scale bars: 0.5 (B), 1 mm (C).

Figure 4. Habitus of Hersilia lelabah, male (A – C) and female (D – F). A, D Dorsal view; B, E Ventral view; C, F Lateral view. Scale bars: 2 mm (equal for A – C), 3 mm (equal for D – F).

Figure 5. Male palp of Hersilia lelabah. A Ventral view; B Dorsal view; C Prolateral view; D Retrolateral view. Scale bar: 0.2 mm (equal for A – D). Abbreviations: Cy, cymbium; EB, embolar base; ET, embolar tip; MA, median apophysis; SD, sperm duct; Te, tegulum.

Figure 6. Female genitals of Hersilia lelabah. A Epigyne, intact, ventral view; B Epigyne, cleared, ventral view; C Vulva, cleared, dorsal view; D Epigyne, cleared and embedded in Arabic gum, ventral view; E Vulva, cleared and embedded in Arabic gum, dorsal view. Scale bar: 0.2 mm (equal for A – E). Abbreviations: A, atrium; CD, copulatory duct (dashed line showing schematic course of copulatory duct, dorsal); CO, copulatory opening; FD, fertilisation duct; MS, median septum; P, pocket; Sp, spermatheca; SRA, anterior chamber of seminal receptacle; SRP, posterior chamber of seminal receptacle.