Meotipa picturata Simon, 1895

Deng, Zhongwei, Agnarsson, Ingi, Chen, Zhanqi & Liu, Jie, 2022, Meotipa species (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China, ZooKeys 1082, pp. 153-178 : 153

Meotipa picturata Simon, 1895

Figures 3A-H , 9 , 10

Meotipa picturata Simon, 1894: 519 (nomen nudum); Simon, 1895: 133 (description of female); Levi and Levi 1962: 47, figs 112-113 (female); Deeleman-Reinhold, 2009: 410, figs 1-3 (female); Kulkarni et al. 2017: 515, figs 39-44 (female); Murthappa et al. 2017: 590, figs 1A-J, 2A-F, 4A-D (description of male, female).

Material examined (holotype not examined).

Yunnan Province: 1♀, Mengla County, Menlun Town, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (21.92°N, 101.26°E, 550 m), 22 November 2019, J. Chen, J. Liu, Z.C. Li & B. Liang leg. (CBEE).

Diagnosis.

Meotipa picturata is similar to M. sahyadri ( Kulkarni et al. 2017: figs 1-38) in having a deep round atrium, the presence of rod-shaped projection with distinct oval openings distally in the median of the atrium (Fig. 3D ). It can be distinguished from the latter by the following combination of characters: (1) the rod-shaped projection with three openings in this species (Fig. 3D ), but two openings in M. sahyadri (see Kulkarni et al. 2017: figs 19, 22); (2) the distal shape of rod-shaped projection is flat, quadrangular in M. picturata (Fig. 3E ), but triangular in M. sahyadri (see Kulkarni et al. 2017: figs 19, 21); (3) the copulatory ducts curve outward in M. picturata (Fig. 3F ), but curve inward in M. sahyadri (see Kulkarni et al. 2017: fig. 18); (4) the end of copulatory ducts enter into the spermathecae ventrally in M. picturata (Fig. 3E ), but laterally in M. sahyadri (see Kulkarni et al. 2017: fig. 18).

Description.

Female. Total length 3.78; Prosoma length 1.31, width (at middle) 0.94, height (at middle) 0.47; Opisthosoma length 2.48, width (at middle) 1.17, height (at middle) 1.94; Eye diameters: ALE 0.08, AME 0.08, PLE 0.08, PME 0.08; Eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.06, ALE-ALE 0.15, PLE-ALE contiguous, PLE-PLE 0.19, PME-PME 0.09, PME-PLE 0.05, AME-ALE 0.04; Clypeus height (at middle) 0.31, width (at middle) 0.20; Measurements of legs: Leg I (right) 13.96 [4.74, 0.49, 3.02, 4.71, 1.00], II (right) 8.88 [3.02, 0.51, 1.69, 2.86, 0.80], III (right) 7.87 [2.28, 0.26, 0.94, 1.53, 2.86], IV (right) 12.19 [4.14, 0.32, 2.96, 3.96, 0.81]. Prosoma glabrous; clypeus narrow. Carapace with a central arrowed-shaped marking forward; fovea broad, smooth with distinct depression (Fig. 3A ). All eyes nearly uniform in size. Sternum triangular, yellow medially, lateral margins deep red and indented. Labium contiguous to the sternum, short with small hairs. Chelicera slanting, yellow with red fang (Fig. 3A-C ). Yellow legs long and slender with short hairs. Tibia with lanceolate spines and black ring distally; femur with black spots dorsally and red spots distally. Leg formula 1423. Pedipalp yellow with small hairs; tibia distally with red semicircle ventrally; tarsus with a single claw. Opisthosoma triangular laterally, very broad in lateral view, its dorsum provided with alternate red and yellow spots, posterior region knobbed extending upwardly, provided with lanceolate spines. Venter transparent, some small red, yellow, and white patches posteriorly (Fig. 3B ). Atrium broad, with a rod-shaped projection apically (Fig. 3D ); copulatory openings depressed, contiguous, located on the end of rod-shaped projection (Fig. 3E ); copulatory ducts broad, short, tube extensively curved entering into the base of spermathecae (Fig. 3F ); spermathecae asymmetrical in shape, left spermatheca gourd-shaped, right spermatheca oval; fertilization duct long, originating from the medial of basal spermathecae (Fig. 3H ).

Male. Not collected.

Distribution.

China (Yunnan). New country and province record (Fig. 10 ).

Figures

Figure 3. Meotipa picturata Simon, 1895 A-C female habitus (A dorsal B prolateral C ventral). D-H epigynum (D ventral, on the body E, F in the alcohol E ventral F dorsal G, H in gum arabic G ventral H dorsal). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-H). Abbreviations: CD = copulatory duct, FD = fertilization duct, S = spermathecae.

Figure 9. Field photographs A M. picturata female on its web B M. spiniventris female with egg sac C, D M. pulcherrima female with its spiderlings. Photographs by Zhongwei Deng in Yunnan Province.

Figure 10. Map with sampling localities for Meotipa species from China: 1 M. argyrodiformis 2 M. pulcherrima 3 M. picturata 4 M. spiniventris 5 M. vesiculosa 6 M. pseudopicturata sp. nov. 7 M. striata sp. nov ..