Songthela Ono, 2000

Xu, Xin, Liu, Fengxiang, Chen, Jian, Ono, Hirotsugu, Li, Daiqin & Kuntner, Matjaz, 2015, A genus-level taxonomic review of primitively segmented spiders (Mesothelae, Liphistiidae), ZooKeys 488, pp. 121-151 : 134-135

Taxon classification Animalia Araneae Liphistiidae

Genus Songthela Ono, 2000 Figures 40-44, 45-48

Songthela Ono, 2000, type species Heptathela hangzhouensis Chen, Zhang & Zhu, 1981; synonymized with Sinothela by Haupt, 2003a, P. 71; synonymized with Heptathela by Schwendinger & Ono, 2011, P. 601. Herein removed from synonymy of Heptathela .

Type species.

Heptathela hangzhouensis Chen, Zhang & Zhu, 1981.

Diagnosis.

Songthela males differ from all other heptatheline genera by the conductor with a smooth surface and with the proximal portion relatively narrow, the distal portion with more than one apical spine (Figures 40-41, 45-46), and by the embolus with a flat opening (Figures 40-41, 45-46). Songthela females differ from all other heptatheline genera by two paired receptacular clusters, all four of similar size or median ones larger than laterals, median pair with tubular stems situated at the anterior margin of bursa copulatrix, lateral ones situated more dorsally (Figures 43-44, 47).

Description.

Total length (excluding chelicerae) = 8-21 mm (N = 304); male palpal conductor with one or two distal spines: the long one nearly reaching the embolus edge, the shorter one positioned at the middle part of conductor (Figures 40-41, 45-46); embolus with a wide, flat opening (Figures 40, 45-46); tegulum with serrated margin (Figures 41-42, 46); spinose paracymbium relatively short (Figures 40-41, 45); female genitalia as diagnosed (Figures 43-44, 47).

Species composition.

Songthela bristowei (Gertsch, 1967), comb. n. (2♂10♀), Songthela ciliensis (Yin, Tang & Xu, 2003), comb. n., Songthela goulouensis (Yin, 2001), comb. n. (8♂41♀; male previously unknown), Songthela hangzhouensis (Chen, Zhang & Zhu, 1981), comb. n. (4♂10♀), Songthela jianganensis ( Chen et al., 1988), comb. n. (11♀), Songthela mangshan (Bao, Yin & Xu, 2003), comb. n., Songthela sapana (Ono, 2010), comb. n. (4♀), Songthela shei (Xu & Yin, 2001), comb. n. (3♂4♀; male previously unknown), Songthela wosanensis (Wang & Jiao, 1995), comb. n. (2♂7♀; male previously unknown), Songthela xianningensis ( Yin et al., 2002), comb. n. (1♂23♀; male previously unknown), Songthela yunnanensis (Song & Haupt, 1984), comb. n.

Distribution.

China (Chongqing, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and Yunnan) and northern Vietnam.