Conothele sidiechongensis Xu, Xu & Liu

Xu, Xin, Xu, Chen, Liu, Fengxiang, Zhang, Zengtao & Li, Daiqin, 2017, Four new species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 from Mainland China and Laos (Araneae, Ctenizidae), ZooKeys 643, pp. 63-74 : 68-69

Conothele sidiechongensis Xu, Xu & Liu sp. n. Fig. 3

Holotype.

Female (C-YN-005), Sidiechong, Mojiang County, Yunnan Province, China, 23.420°N, 101.676°E, 5 August 2013, collected by D. Li, F.X. Liu and X. Xu.

Paratypes.

One female (C-YN-003) collected at Baka Village, Menglun Town, Mengla City, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China, 21.968°N, 101.210°E, 13 July 2013, collected by F.X. Liu and X. Xu. One female (C-Laos-001), Oudomxay Province, Laos PDR, 27 July 2013, collected by D. Li, F.X. Liu and X. Xu. No male found.

Etymology.

‘Sidiechong’ refers to the type locality of the holotype specimen of this species.

Diagnosis.

Female genitalia of Conothele sidiechongensis sp. n. resembles to Conothele taiwanensis (Tso, Haupt & Zhu, 2003), but can be distinguished from the latter by more or less upwards oriented bowl-shape lobes and stalk bent in zigzag pattern distally (Fig. 3E).

Description.

Total length, including chelicerae 25.50; carapace 9.00 long, 9.30 wide; opisthosoma 13.50 long, 10.80 wide. Carapace black brown, black on its margin; with 4 slender setae on eye tubercle and 5 on its back. Caput arched. Fovea deep, strongly procurved and U-shaped (Fig. 3A). Eye tubercle black and low. Eight eyes in two rows, with the anterior eye row slightly procurved and posterior row straight from above (Fig. 3A); eye group 0.60 long, 1.10 wide; ALE-AME 0.25, AME-AME 0.20, PLE-PME 0.05, PME-PME 0.85; MOA 0.60 long, front width 0.86, back width 1.55; ALE: AME: PLE: PME (0.65: 0.33: 0.45: 0.35). Clypeus width 0.45. Chelicerae black, inner margin with 11 teeth, outer margin with 8 teeth. Labium, coxae of palp (maxillae) and sternum black brown (Fig. 3B). Labium 1.60 long, 1.90 wide, with 7 conspicuous cuspules. Coxae of palp (maxillae) 3.60 long, 1.75 wide, with about 29 conspicuous cuspules ventrally. Sternum 5.25 long, 5.90 wide, with large, irregularly shaped sigilla in the centre (Fig. 3B).

Legs black brown, light-coloured ventrally, with long and short brown sparse setae. All tarsi with tadpole-shaped trichobothrial hairs besides the normal ones. Tibia III with a saddle-like depression dorsally (Fig. 3C). Tibia and tarsus of palp, distal three segments of legs I and II with bands of short thorn-like spines laterally; tibia III with 4 short thorn-like spines distally (Fig. 3C); femur III thickest. Scopulae and claw tufts absent. Palpal claw with a single branched tooth; legs each with 3 tarsal claws, paired claws with two denticles, one big and one small. Leg formula: 4123. Measurements: palp 14.88 (5.00 + 2.53 + 3.75 + 3.60), leg I 16.85 (6.00 + 3.00 + 4.00 + 2.10 + 1.75), leg II 16.05 (5.80 + 2.50 + 3.75 + 2.15 + 1.85), leg III 15.80 (4.90 + 3.50 + 3.10 + 2.10 + 2.20), leg IV 19.90 (6.10 + 3.50 + 4.10 + 4.10 + 2.10).

Opisthosoma black, scattered with thick and slender black setae. Spinnerets brownish, PMS one-segmented, 1.20 long, PMS-PMS 0.10; PLS three-segmented, 2.50 long, thicker, covered with brown spines, apical segment dome-shape (Fig. 3D). Genitalia with a pair of spermathecae, with bowl-shaped lobes facing up at the terminal part, long stalks, slightly broader at the basal part, strongly sclerotized and bent in zigzag pattern at the distal part (Fig. 3E).

Distribution.

Yunnan Province (Mojiang, Mengla), China; Oudomxay Province, Laos.