Anelosimus linda Agnarsson

Agnarsson, Ingi & Zhang, Jun-Xia, 2006, New species of Anelosimus (Araneae: Theridiidae) from Africa and Southeast Asia, with notes on sociality and color polymorphism, Zootaxa 1147, pp. 1-34 : 31-33

Anelosimus linda Agnarsson n. sp.

( Figs 18C–D )

Types

Female holotype and paratype (1 Ψ) from Malaysia, Pahang, Cameron Highlands, Arcadia, trail 3, 4°28’55.2”N, 101°23’16.8"E, 1550 m, 21.–23.v.2005, W. Maddison, D. Li, I. Agnarsson, J. X. Zhang, deposited in NMNH. Paratype female in poor condition, lacking legs I.

Diagnosis

Anelosimus linda n. sp. differs form all other Anelosimus by the very short copulatory ducts, and small hook–shaped epigynal openings ( Figs 18C–D ).

Description

Female (holotype): Total length 1.90. Prosoma 0.95 long, 0.75 wide, dark brown. Sternum 0.65 long, 0.60 wide, brown. Opisthosoma 1.05 long, 0.90 wide. Pattern as in other Anelosimus , dark dorsal notched folium, edged by a narrow white rim. Eyes subequal in size about 0.10 in diameter. Clypeus height about 2.1 times AME diameter.

Leg I femur 1.35, patella 0.35, tibia 1.15, metatarsus 0.95, tarsus 0.45. Femur I about 7 times longer than wide. Leg formula 1423. Leg pale yellowish, femur I distinctly darkened, except at base. 4–6 small trichobothria dorsally on all tibia, 4–5 on tibia I–III, 5–6 on IV. 3 dorsal trichobothria on palpal tibia.

Under light microscopy we could not detect the presence of colular setae, however, in these small spiders they could easily be overlooked.

Epigynum as in Figures 18C–D .

Male: unknown.

Natural history

The type material was collected by beating in a mid elevation forest.

Phylogenetics

See under A. agnar n. sp. and Figure 1 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Summary cladogram of Anelosimus species based on Agnarsson (2005, 2006). The approximate placement of the ‘ agnar group’ (A. agnar n. sp. and A. linda n. sp.), indicated with an arrow, is based on preliminary molecular data (Agnarsson unpublished). Alternatively the agnar group may belong to the filiform embolus clade. In Agnarsson (2005, 2006) A. sp. 2 Tanzania = A. biglebowski n. sp, A. sp. 3 Tanzania = A. dude n. sp., A. sp. 4 Singapore = A. kohi Yoshida, 1993, and A. sp. 5 South Africa = A. nelsoni n. sp. Preliminary morphological evidence such as filiform embolus, tegular ridge, and voluminous spermathecae (see Agnarsson 2006 for details) further indicate the placement of A. monskenyensis n. sp., A. sulawesi n. sp., A. chonganicus Zhu, 1998, A. crassipes (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906), A. dubius (Tullgren, 1910), A. exiguus Yoshida, 1986, A. iwawakiensis Yoshida, 1986, and A. taiwanicus Yoshida, 1986 in the ‘ filiform embolus clade’.

FIGURES 18 A – E. A – B, A. agnar n. sp. A, epigynum, ventral; B, epigynum cleared, dorsal. C – D, A. linda n. sp. C, epigynum, ventral; D, epigynum cleared, dorsal (CD copulatory ducts, FD fertilization ducts, S spermathecae). E, Anelosimus dude n. sp., female opisthosoma ventral, showing setae around the pedicel and the transparency of the cuticle anterior to the epigynum. Scale bar for epigyna: 100 mm.