Hamus Ballarin & Li, 2015

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 : 4-5

Taxon classification Animalia Araneae Nesticidae

Genus Hamus Ballarin & Li, 2015

Hamus Ballarin & Li, 2015: 180.

Type species.

Hamus bowoensis Ballarin & Li, 2015 from Tibet, China.

Diagnosis.

Hamus is easily distinguished from all the other Nesticidae , with the exception of Nescina , by the following combination of characters: for the males, a short paracymbium ending in only a tiny, hooked process (Dp) (usually more developed and ramificated in most other Nesticidae ), a remarkable, almost round and ventrally flat bulb, a long, laminar conductor (C) with a counterclockwise course around the bulb (both absent in all the other genera except Nescina ) and a compact and hook-like process of the conductor (Cp-I). Females are distinguished by the considerably large, almost round spermathecae (S), smaller in other genera. Males of the genus Hamus are separated from those of Nescina by the larger size, the larger terminal apophysis II (Ta-II) and the massive hook-like process I of the conductor (Cp-I) (Cp-I is reduced and flat in Nescina ). Females can be separated by the wider spermathecae (S) and the shorter and simpler fertilization ducts (Fd).

Description.

Total length: 1.48-1.87 (male), 2.00-2.15 (female). Carapace rounded in males, more ovate in females, yellow or pale yellow. Cephalic area slightly raised, with sparse setae. Eyes ALE>PME=PLE>AME. Cervical groove and fovea indistinct. Chelicera with three promarginal teeth and multiple retromarginal tiny denticles on the fang furrow. Legs uniformly yellow; in male of Hamus bowoensis a tuft of hairs present on the prolateral margin of femur I. Opisthosoma grey or light yellow as the carapace, with long setae.

Male palp: tibia short, wider than long. Cymbium wide with well-developed lateral furrow about 2/3 of the cymbial length. Paracymbium short, compact and simple, weakly sclerotized, with a tiny, hooked distal process, a lobed ventral apophysis and a flat, translucent dorsal apophysis. Bulb almost round and ventrally flat. Terminal apophysis well-developed and strongly sclerotized with one or two processes, process I elongate or reduced, sometimes absent, process II always present and hook shaped. Tegular apophysis absent. Conductor long and laminar, starting at the prolateral margin of the bulb and following the embolus on the prolateral side with a counterclockwise course. Two strongly sclerotized processes located at the base of the conductor; the first short and compact, hook-like, the other elongate leading the terminal part of the embolus to the center of the bulb. Embolus long and slender starting from the retrolateral side of the bulb and bordering the tegulum with a semicircular clockwise course.

Epigyne: posterior margin of the epigynal plate weakly sclerotized and straight. Copulatory openings near the epigynal posterior margin. Spermathecae and fertilization ducts visible through the transparent tegument. Fertilization ducts relatively long and simple, copulatory ducts short, ventrally oriented. Spermathecae close to each other, wide and almost round or pyriform.

Composition.

Hamus bowoensis Ballarin & Li, 2015, Hamus cornutus sp. n., Hamus kangdingensis sp. n., Hamus luzon sp. n., and Hamus mangunensis sp. n.

Distribution.

China (Guangxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan), Laos, Philippines (Luzon Island).