Anelosimus darwini Agnarsson, Kuntner & Jencik

Agnarsson, Ingi, Jencik, Brian B., Veve, Giselle M., Hanitriniaina, Sahondra, Agostini, Diego, Goh, Seok Ping, Pruitt, Jonathan & Kuntner, Matjaz, 2015, Systematics of the Madagascar Anelosimus spiders: remarkable local richness and endemism, and dual colonization from the Americas, ZooKeys 509, pp. 13-52 : 34-35

Taxon classification Animalia Araneae Theridiidae

Anelosimus darwini Agnarsson, Kuntner & Jencik sp. n. Fig. 12

Type material.

Holotype female holotype from Ambohitantely Special Reserve (18.197°S, 47.285°E), 1600 m alt, Analamanga region, Ankazobe district, Madagascar, 28.iv.2008, montane forest, col. Agnarsson and Kuntner, in NMNH.

Other material.

Juveniles from same locality.

Etymology.

The species epithet is a noun in the genitive case and honors Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary biology.

Diagnosis.

Anelosimus darwini can be diagnosed from all other Anelosimus , expect Anelosimus may , and Anelosimus ata , by the anchor-shaped septum (Fig. 12B) and from Anelosimus may and Anelosimus ata by the pathway of the copulatory duct with a near 90° bend (Fig. 12C). Anelosimus darwini can be diagnosed from other Madagascan Anelosimus on the basis of the following unique mtDNA nucleotide substitutions at the following standard DNA barcode alignment positions: T (84), T (190), T (526), A (848). It can also be readily diagnosed from most other Anelosimus based the following partially shared nucleotide substitutions, and all other species by their unique combination: T (127, except Anelosimus nazariani and Anelosimus ata ), T (130, except Anelosimus nazariani ), A (133, except Anelosimus huxleyi ), G (229, except some Anelosimus may ), G (244, except Anelosimus may ), T (352, except Anelosimus may and Anelosimus sallee ), T (364, except Anelosimus torfi ), G (556, except Anelosimus nazariani ), T (631, except Anelosimus salut ), G (838, except Anelosimus andasibe ).

Description.

Female (holotype): Total length 3.70. Cephalothorax 1.88 long, 1.27 wide, 0.93 high. Red-brown. Sternum 1.04 long, 0.82 wide, extending between coxae IV, dark brown. Abdomen 1.79 long, 1.63 wide, 2.45 high. Brown pattern with 2 white streaks. Eyes subequal in size about 0.11 in diameter. Chelicerae each with 1 large tooth, 3 denticles located prolaterally. Clypeus height about 2.3 times one AME diameter. Leg I femur 2.10, patella 0.62, tibia 1.86, metatarsus 1.49, tarsus 0.93. Legs roughly same color as cephalothorax. Leg formula 1432. Numerous (3-4) small trichobothria dorsally on all tibiae. 2-3 trichobothria on metatarsus, absent on tarsus.

Variation: only known from holotype.

Distribution.

Only known from type locality.

Natural history.

Unknown, predicted to be subsocial.