Anelosimus vondrona Agnarsson & Kuntner, 2005

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 : 21

Taxon classification Animalia Araneae Theridiidae

Anelosimus vondrona Agnarsson & Kuntner, 2005 Fig. 3

Notes.

We here describe the male of Anelosimus vondrona for the first time and illustrate both sexes to facilitate identification.

Type material.

Holotype female from Périnet Special Reserve (P.N. Andasibe Mantadia), Toamasina Province, Madagascar, (18.935°S, 48.418°E), 7-8.v.2001, montane forest, 900-1000 m, (I. Agnarsson and M. Kuntner), in NMNH, examined.

Other material.

Multiple additional specimens from same locality, 3-20.iv.2008 and 12-28.xi.2008, col. Agnarsson, Kuntner, and Hanitriniaina, and from Ranamofana National Park (21.25°S, 47.43°E), montane rainforest, 980-1050 m alt, 27.iv. - 2.v.2013, col. Pruitt.

Diagnosis.

Anelosimus vondrona females can be diagnosed from all other species except Anelosimus huxleyi by the relatively broad septum that extends the entire width of the epigynum (Fig. 3C) and from Anelosimus huxleyi by the less heavily sclerotized lower margin of the epigynal plate. Males can be diagnosed by the shape of the TTA with curved and elongate upper branch (Fig. 3G), and the shape of the Eb (Fig. 3 H–I). Anelosimus vondrona 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: G (802), T (820). 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: A (163, rarely also in Anelosimus nazariani ), G (466, except Anelosimus hookeri sp. n.), G (493, except some Anelosimus may ), G (521, except Anelosimus salut ), G (619, except Anelosimus huxleyi sp. n.), G (628, except some Anelosimus may ), G (655, except some Anelosimus huxleyi sp. n.), G (760, except most Anelosimus nazariani ), G (799, except Anelosimus buffoni sp. n.)

Description.

Male (same locality as holotype): Total length 4.47 Cephalothorax 2.03 long, 1.53 wide, 0.49 high. Sternum 1.11 long, 0.94 wide, extending halfway between coxae IV, dark brown. Abdomen 2.40 long, 1.87 wide, 1.89 high, color (Fig. 3A). Eyes subequal in size about 0.13 in diameter. Clypeus height about 2 times one AME diameter Chelicerae with one large tooth, and 3-4 denticles retrolaterally Leg 1 femur 3.16, patella 0.88, tibia 3.15, metatarsus 2.60, tarsus 1.11. Leg formula 1243 Legs are light brown-yellow. 7 small trichobothria dorsally on tibia I and II, and two dorsally on metatarsi.

Distribution.

Eastern Madagascan montane forest, documented from Périnet and Ranamofana.

Natural history.

In Ranamofana, we sampled ten colonies of Anelosimus vondrona . Six colonies contained a singleton female and four colonies contained a singleton female with a discolored, collapsed egg sac. All of these colonies were found along roadsides and ornamental shrubbery. In Périnet a large number of colonies were collected, almost exclusively in open forest, including many with female and up to 53 spiderlings coexisting. An adult female was more commonly present in webs with small juveniles but also found in some nests containing antepenultimate and subadult (5th-6th instar) juveniles, suggesting prolonged cohabitation of mother and young. Foreign spiders were abundant in Anelosimus vondrona colonies, including several saliticids, a sparassid, a thomisid, and many theridiids.