Meotipa pulcherrima ( Mello-Leitao , 1917)

Deng, Zhongwei, Agnarsson, Ingi, Chen, Zhanqi & Liu, Jie, 2022, Meotipa species (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China, ZooKeys 1082, pp. 153-178 : 153

Meotipa pulcherrima ( Mello-Leitao, 1917)

Figures 2A-H , 9 , 10

Argyrodes pulcherrimus Mello-Leitão, 1917: 86, figs 7, 8 (description of female).

Meotipa clementinae Petrunkevitch, 1930: 212, figs 61, 62 (description of female); Schmidt 1956a: 30, fig. 6 (description of male); Schmidt, 1956b: 240, fig. 1 (female).

Argyrodes elevatus Exline and Levi, 1962: 135 (synonymy, rejected by Levi 1967a).

Chrysso clementinae Levi, 1962: 231, figs 71-75 (male and female); Müller 1992: 99, figs 5, 6 (female).

Chrysso pulcherrima Levi, 1967a: 26 (removed female from synonymy of Argyrodes elevatus , synonymy of male); Levi 1967b: 182, figs 28-31 (male and female); Zhu and Zhang 1992: 23, fig. 3A-D (male and female); Yoshida 1993: 30, figs 10-12, 20 (male and female); Zhu 1998: 54, fig. 28A-D (male and female); Song et al. 1999: 103, fig. 50A, B, J (male and female); Yoshida 2003: 126, figs 337, 341, 342 (male and female, synonymy); Seo 2005: 123, fig. 2A, B (male).

Chrysso mussau Chrysanthus, 1975: 48, figs 174-177 (descriptions of male and female).

Meotipa pulcherrima Yoshida, 2009: 378, figs 211-213 (transferred from Chrysso ).

Note.

The taxonomy of M. pulcherrima , presumed to be widely introduced, including to its type locality in Brazil, requires further scrutiny. Our specimens are not identical to the given type illustrations, and further variation appears globally evident. However, solving the global taxonomy of M. pulcherrima is outside the scope of this manuscript and required dedicated research.

Material examined (holotype not examined).

Hunan Province: 7♀, Zhangjiajie City, Sangzhi County, Quanyushan Leisure Park (29.48°N, 110.16°E, 370 m), 5 May 2018, F.X. Liu & Z.C. Li leg. (CBEE).

Diagnosis.

Meotipa pulcherrima is similar to M. capacifaba Li, Liu, Xu & Yin, 2020 (see Li et al. 2020: figs 1A-J, 2A-E, 3A-E) by shared characters such as raised eyes, raised carapace posteriorly, and spherical copulatory ducts (Fig. 2G ), but it can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: (1) the copulatory openings are inconspicuous in M. pulcherrima (Fig. 2D ), but obvious in M. capacifaba (see Li et al. 2020: fig. 2A); (2) the posterior margin of atrium has a tongue-shaped protrusion medially in M. pulcherrima (Fig. 2E ), but not in M. capacifaba (see Li et al. 2020: fig. 2A); (3) the conductor is broad with a sharp point in M. pulcherrima (see Levi 1962: figs 74, 75), but relatively narrow with a blunt point in M. capacifaba (see Li et al. 2020: figs 2D, 3D).

Description.

Female. Total length 3.03; Prosoma length 0.96, width (at middle) 0.90, height (at middle) 0.61; Opisthosoma length 2.07, width (at middle) 1.27, height (at middle) 1.89; Eye diameters: ALE 0.07, AME 0.09, PLE 0.08, PME 0.09; Eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.09, ALE-ALE 0.55, PLE-ALE contiguous, PLE-PLE 0.30, PME-PME 0.08, PME-PLE 0.11, AME-ALE 0.02; Clypeus height (at middle) 0.21, width (at middle) 0.60; Measurements of legs: Leg I (right) 8.3 [2.59, 0.42, 2.34, 2.16, 0.79], II (right) 5.42 [2.03, 0.40, 1.04, 1.43, 0.52], III (right) 3.73 [1.49, 0.24, 0.85, 0.73, 0.42], IV (right) 6.33 [2.40, 0.39, 0.90, 2.00, 0.64]. Carapace with a central reddish brown longitudinal band; cephalic area relatively long and narrow; clypeus bulged outward (Fig. 2A ). Median furrow is round, deep, and the radial furrow is not obvious (Fig. 2A ). Eyes strongly recurved. AME separation is greater than AME-ALE, and PME separation is also greater than PLE-PME; ALE-PLE contiguous. All eyes nearly uniform in size with brown rings surrounding (Fig. 2A, B ). Sternum yellow, heart-shaped. Labium clearly distinguish from the sternum, yellow with brown markings, approximately triangular in shape. Chelicera yellow with pale red fang (Fig. 2C ). Yellow legs long and slender with dark brown spots; the ends of tibiae and the bases and ends of metatarsus of each leg have dark brown rings. Leg formula 1423. Pedipalp yellow with many short hairs distally (Fig. 2A, B ). Abdomen triangular in lateral view, with caudal region extending upwardly beyond spinnerets. There are 14 feather-like spines on the top of the protuberance and before the protuberance reaches the spinnerets, which break easily (Fig. 2A-C ). Dorsum of abdomen yellow with dark red spots. The venter of the abdomen has central black spots on each side (Fig. 2B ). Epigynum with a big atrium and inconspicuous copulatory openings (Fig. 2D ); copulatory ducts swelling distally, sphere-shaped (Fig. 2E, F ); spermathecae smaller than distal end of copulatory ducts, sphere-shaped (Fig. 2H ); fertilization ducts are located at the intersection of copulatory ducts and spermathecae (Fig. 2H ).

Male. Not collected.

Distribution.

China (Fujian; Guangxi; Hainan; Hunan, newly recorded; Taiwan; Zhejiang), Japan, Korea, Pacific Is., Papua New Guinea; also tropical Africa and widespread across the Americas (after Levi 1962).

Remarks.

Although we did not examine the female holotype of M. pulcherrima , the triangular abdomen with caudal region extending upwardly beyond spinnerets, the short and swollen copulatory ducts, and the sphere-shaped spermathecae all indicate our specimens belong to M. pulcherrima according to the original, albeit simple illustrations by Mello-Leitão (1917: 86, figs 7, 8) and detailed illustrations by Zhu et al. (1992: 23, fig. 3A-D) and Yoshida (2003: 126, figs 337, 341, 342).We also note some slight differences in our specimens against the original illustrations of Brazilian specimens by Mello-Leitão (1917). The specimens we collected only has half of the abdomen extending beyond the spinnerets (Fig. 2B ), but the specimens from Brazil have 2/3 of abdomen extending beyond them (see Mello-Leitão 1917: 86, fig. 7). Meanwhile, the shadow of the copulatory ducts and the fertilization ducts can be seen from the ventral view of epigynum, and the shadows on both sides look like two tadpoles in atrium, with fertilization ducts resembling their tails and copulatory ducts resembling their heads. The shadows of the specimen from Brazil in 1917 resemble two tadpoles swimming towards the middle of the atrium (see Mello-Leitão 1917: 86, fig. 8), but the shadows of our specimen resemble two tadpoles swimming to the sides of the atrium (Fig. 2C ). However, the tails of tadpoles in the Brazilian specimens may be the spermathecae instead of the fertilization ducts according to the original illustrations. In addition, the posterior margin of atrium has a tongue-shaped protrusion medially in our individuals, but not in the Brazilian specimens.

Figures

Figure 2. Meotipa pulcherrima (Mello-Leitao, 1917) A-C female habitus (flattened black spines on the abdomen and legs were broken off during photography) (A dorsal B prolateral C ventral). D-H epigynum (D ventral, on the body, and the arrow points to tongue-shaped apophysis E, F in alcohol E ventral F dorsal G, H in gum arabic G ventral H dorsal). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-H). Abbreviations: CD = copulatory duct, FD = fertilization duct, S = spermathecae.

Figure 9. Field photographs A M. picturata female on its web B M. spiniventris female with egg sac C, D M. pulcherrima female with its spiderlings. Photographs by Zhongwei Deng in Yunnan Province.

Figure 10. Map with sampling localities for Meotipa species from China: 1 M. argyrodiformis 2 M. pulcherrima 3 M. picturata 4 M. spiniventris 5 M. vesiculosa 6 M. pseudopicturata sp. nov. 7 M. striata sp. nov ..