Plebs himalayaensis Joseph & Framenau, 2012

Joseph, Mathew M. & Framenau, Volker W., 2012, Systematic review of a new orb-weaving spider genus (Araneae: Araneidae), with special reference to the Australasian-Pacific and South-East Asian fauna, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (2), pp. 279-341 : 332-333

PLEBS HIMALAYAENSIS ( TIKADER, 1975) COMB. NOV.

Araneus himalayaensis Tikader, 1975: 145–146 , figs 1–3. Tikader & Bal, 1981: 50–51, figs 107–110; Tikader, 1982: 229–230, figs 444–447; Hu & Li, 1987: 326, figs 8.1–3; Yin et al., 1997: 171–172, fig. 88a–d; Song et al., 1999: 239, figs 138E, H–I, 148E.

Eriophora himalayaensis .- Zhang et al., 2006: 5, figs 3A–C.

Types: Holotype. ♀ from West Bengal ( India), graveyard (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce College ), Darjeeling, 14.iv.1974, B. Biswas ( NZSI 5059 /18). Not available for loan, not examined . Paratypes. 15 ♀, data as holotype ( NZSI 5060 /18). Not available for loan, not examined .

Material examined: No material available for loan. Remarks: Plebs himalayaensis was described from India and was initially placed in Araneus ( Tikader, 1975) . Later, Hu & Li (1987) reported it, apparently for the first time, from China. Zhang et al. (2006) transferred it to the genus Eriophora . Currently, only females are known from this species. However, a detailed comparison of illustrations of the epigyne of specimens from India (e.g. the holotype: Tikader, 1975: fig. 2) and China ( Yin et al., 1997: fig. 88b, Zhang et al., 2006: fig. 3B) strongly suggests that at least two different species are involved. In the Indian specimens, the scape of the holotype is illustrated as straight in ventral view with smooth surface and a single kink in the distal half in lateral view. In contrast, the Chinese specimens have a convoluted scape base and the scape itself is somewhat curved and heavily wrinkled. In light of the intraspecific scape variation within the genus as reviewed here, we consider P. himalayaensis to be restricted to India. The Chinese specimens may represent an undescribed Plebs pending the discovery and investigation of males from both India and China.

Our proposed transfer of P. himalayaensis to the new genus Plebs is based on Tikader’s (1975) original description as the type (or any other) material was not available for loan. However, Tikader’s (1975) illustrations show the typical Plebs somatic and genitalic ground plan and his description of the ventral abdominal pattern agrees with the synapomorphy of Plebs .

Distribution: India; specimens reported from China ( Yin et al., 1997; Song et al., 1999; Zhang et al., 2006) are almost certainly a different species.