Acanthoneta Eskov & Marusik, 1992

Sun, Ning, Marusik, Yuri M. & Tu, Lihong, 2014, Acanoides gen. n., a new spider genus from China with a note on the taxonomic status of Acanthoneta Eskov & Marusik, 1992 (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Micronetinae), ZooKeys 375, pp. 75-99 : 84-85

Genus Acanthoneta Eskov & Marusik, 1992 stat. n.

Acanthoneta Eskov & Marusik, 1992: 34. Described as a subgenus of Poeciloneta .

Acanthoneta : Saaristo and Tanasevitch 1996: 175. Raised to generic status without any comments or argumentation.

Type species.

Poeciloneta aggressus (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1943).

Composition.

Three species: Acanthoneta aggressa Chamberlin & Ivie, 1943 (Nearctic), Acanthoneta dokutchaevi Eskov & Marusik, 1993 (Far East Asia) and Acanthoneta furcata Emerton, 1913 (Nearctic).

Comments.

Originally Acanthoneta was described as a subgenus of Poeciloneta , including two species: Poeciloneta (Acanthoneta) aggressa and Poeciloneta (Acanthoneta) furcata . One additional species Acanthoneta dokutchaevi was assigned to the subgenus by Eskov and Marusik (1993). Saaristo and Tanasevitch (1996) raised Acanthoneta to genus status without any argumentations and hence the new status was not accepted by Platnick (2014). Here we provide a diagnosis for Acanthoneta and a comparison with Poeciloneta .

Diagnosis.

Males of Acanthoneta differ from Poeciloneta by the long radix almost parallel with the long lamella characteristica (Fig. 6F), in the latter the radix is normal boat-shaped, lamella characteristica large and ribbon-like ( Saaristo and Tanasevitch 2000: fig. 11). Females of the two genera differ by the epigynum in Acanthoneta having a sigmoid scape surrounded by an epigynal cavity, the lateral wall of which is posteriorly extended (Fig. 6H), whereas in Poeciloneta the scape is exposed, enlarged and strongly sclerotized ( Saaristo and Tanasevitch 2000: fig. 18).