Laoponia Platnick & Jaeger , 2008

Liu, Ke-ke, Yin, Hai-qiang, Liu, Ji-he, Xu, Xiang, Xiao, Yong-hong & Peng, Xian-jin, 2019, A new record of the spider family Caponiidae from China (Arachnida, Araneae), ZooKeys 851, pp. 1-15 : 1

Genus Laoponia Platnick & Jaeger, 2008

Laoponia : Platnick and Jäger 2008: 2, figs 1−25.

Type species.

Laoponia saetosa Platnick & Jäger, 2008: 4, figs 1−25, 31−34, type locality Laos.

Diagnosis.

Laoponia species is similar to Nops species (see Sánchez-Ruiz and Brescovit 2015: 133, fig. 6; 135, fig. 18) and Tarsonops species (see Sánchez-Ruiz et al. 2015: 47, fig. 15; Sánchez-Ruiz and Brescovit 2018, 62, fig. 38H) in having a slit sensillum at the base of fan on chelicerae and the lyriform organ distally located at metatarsi, but can be distinguished from other genera by the relatively shorter, slender embolus with a sharp tip in males (wide, membranous in Nopsides Chamberlin, 1924; broad, ribbon-shaped in Iraponia Kranz-Baltensperger, Platnick & Dupérré, 2009; with small extensions on tip or a sclerotized margin in Nops MacLeay, 1839), and the normal legs without some appendages (such as the median translucent ventral longitudinal keel, the translucent extension of the membrane, subsegmented tarsi, and the presence of a gladius between the anterior metatarsi and tarsi in Nops MacLeay, 1839) ( Platnick and Jäger 2008; Liu et al. 2010; Jiménez et al. 2011; Sánchez-Ruiz and Brescovit 2018). Female internal genitalia with clearly sclerotized distal margin and simple invagination of receptaculum and relatively wide base of uterus externus (narrow in Iraponia Kranz-Baltensperger, Platnick and Dupérré 2009). Unfortunately, there are only two Laoponia species reported worldwide: one is known with both male and female specimens and the other only with male specimens. More information on the females of this genus is needed.