Talaus oblitus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899

Benjamin, Suresh P., 2020, Distributional and taxonomic notes on the crab spider genus Talaus Simon, 1886 with description of a new species (Araneae: Thomisidae), Zootaxa 4858 (3), pp. 405-416 : 411

Talaus oblitus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899

Figs 2D , 5 A–B

Talaus oblitus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899: 526 , pl. 30, fig. 8.

Type material. Holotype: male, SRI LANKA, no more locality data given, leg. G. H. K. Thwaites ( OUMNH b 1242 t.8, examined).

Diagnosis. Easily distinguishable from congeners by the filiform embolus winding 2/3 around tegulum, the short, hooked VTA (lateral view) and the enlarged, truncated RTA.

Other material examined. SRI LANKA: Central province: 1♂, Kandy District, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens , 460 m, 7° 17’ 57”N 80° 38’ 29”E, 29 December 2011, litter, Yuri Marusik ( ZFMK, IFS _Tho_129,) ; 1♂, same locality, Hantana , 07° 14’ 57” N 80° 36’ 50” E, 18 December 2012, beating, N. Athukorala et al. ( ZFMK, IFS _Tho_178,) .

Description. Male (from Peradeniya Botanical Gardens): Total length: 2.5; prosoma length: 1.2, width: 1.1. Leg I: femur 1.2, patella 0.4, tibia 1.1, metatarsus 1.0, tarsus 0.6. Prosoma reddish brown, with some long setae (prominent along the posterior margin), surface without markings. ALE, PLE on tubercles, not connected to each other. ALE>PLE>AME=PME, MOA wider than long, distance between AMEs three diameter of AME. Distance between PME more than 4x AME. Opisthosoma yellow-brown, with uniformly distributed black flakes. Palp as in Figs 5 A–B, filiform embolus, large, truncate RTA.

Female: Unknown.

Distribution. Sri Lanka.

Figures

FIGURE 2 A–K. A–B, G, K Talaus nanus (G, K immature female from MCSN); C, H–J T. triangulifer from Indonesia, Kalimantan (RMNH.ARA.17832); D T. oblitus male from Sri Lanka (OUMNH b1242 t.8); E, F T. opportunus syntypes from Sri Lanka (OUMNH b1239). A, C, E, G female, habitus dorsal; B, D, F male, habitus dorsal; H epigynum, ventral; I, J right male palp (I ventral, J retrolateral); K epigynal area of immature female. Scale lines = 0.1 mm (H, K), 0.2 mm (I, J), 0.5 mm (A–C), 1.0 mm (G).

FIGURE 5 A, B. Talaus oblitus from Sri Lanka (OUMNH b1242 t.8). A left palp, ventral; B same, retrolateral. Scale lines = 0.2 mm.