Plebs sachalinensis 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 : 336

PLEBS SACHALINENSIS ( SAITO, 1934) COMB. NOV.

Argiope sachalinensis Saito, 1934: 332 , fig. 6.

Argiope sakhalinensis – Bonnet, 1955: 694.

Araneus tokachianus Saito, 1934: 326 , plate 13, fig. 22, plate 15, fig. 65. Bonnet, 1955: 613. syn. nov. by Yaginuma (1986) (in Tanikawa, 2000).

Zilla sachalinensis – Yaginuma, 1955: 21, plate II, figs 8–12; Yaginuma, 1960: 57, figs 56.1–3; Namkung, 1964: 38, fig. 26; Yaginuma, 1971: 57, figs 56.1–3; Hu, 1984: 128, figs 129.1–5; Yin et al., 1987: 63, figs 5–7; Chikuni 1989: 74, fig. 36; Chen & Zhang 1991: 105, figs 98.1–4; Yin et al., 1997: 402–403, fig. 292a–f; Kim, Kim & Lee, 1999: 76, figs 25, 49; Song et al., 1999: 310, fig. 184T–U, 185E–F, Q.

Zilla tokachianus – Yaginuma, 1955: 21.

Zilla flavomaculata Yaginuma, 1955: 22 , plate II, figs 13–20. Yaginuma, 1960: 57, figs 56.4–5; Yaginuma, 1971: 57, figs 56.4–5. syn. nov. in Yaginuma (1977).

Araneus sachalinensis – Saito, 1959: 110, fig. 131a–d.

Araneus pineus Yin, Wang, Xie & Peng, 1990: 43 , figs 107–110; Yin et al., 1997: 189–190, fig. 106a–d; Song et al., 1999: 240, fig. 139R–T, 148R. syn. nov. in Zhang et al. (2006).

Eriophora flava Zhu & Song, 1994 (in Zhu et al., 1994: 37, fig. 12A–C; Yin et al. 1997: 288–289, fig. 197a–d; Song et al., 1999: 280, figs 165J–K, 166A, F. syn. nov. in Tanikawa (2000).

Eriophora sachalinensis – Tanikawa, 2000: 23–25, figs 7, 15–17; Namkung, 2002:304, fig. 19.65a–b; Kim & Kim, 2002: 206, figs 125–126, 238–239; Namkung, 2003: 306, fig. 19.65a–b; Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2006: 9–10, fig. 7A–F; Marusik & Crawford, 2006: 175, figs 17–18, 25–26; Tanikawa, 2007: 67, figs 140–141, 564–565; Tanikawa, 2009: 441, figs 144–145.

Types: Holotype of Argiope sachalinensis Saito, 1934 . ♀ from Sakhalin Oblast ( Russia), Sakhalin. Lost ( Tanikawa, 2000). Not examined. Holotype female of Araneus tokachianus Saito, 1934 . ♀ from Hokkaido Prefecture ( Japan), Mount Tokachidake. Lost ( Tanikawa, 2000). Not examined. Holotype female of Zilla flavomaculata Yaginuma, 1955 . ♀ from Mie Prefecture ( Japan) (Arachnological Society of Japan) ( Tanikawa, 2000). Not examined. Holotype of Araneus pineus Yin, Wang, Xie & Peng, 1990 . ♀ from Hunan Province ( China), Chengbu County, Nan Mountain, 28.vii.1982, Jiafu Wang & Yongjing Zhang (HNU). Not examined. Paratypes of Araneus pineus Yin, Wang, Xie & Peng, 1990 . Nine ♀♀, data as holotype. Not examined. Holotype male of Eriophora flava Zhu & Zong, 1994 . ♂ from Hainan Province ( China), Mount Jianfengling, 12.xii.1989, Mingsheng Zhu (MHBU). Not examined.

Material examined: Three males and nine females from nine records (Appendix S1).

Remarks: This widespread and well-recognized species was originally described in the genus Argiope ( Saito, 1934) , but has since undergone a number of reviews and revisions resulting in multiple synonyms and generic transfers (see list of synonyms above). In his revision of western Pacific Argiopinae, Levi (1983: 262) noted that this species is ‘probably an Araneus ’. We have examined specimens from Japan and China, and based on their agreement with our generic concept of Plebs and the position in our phylogenetic analysis ( Fig. 3 ), we here propose the generic transfer Plebs sachalinensis ( Saito, 1934) comb. nov.

Distribution: China ( Yin et al., 1997), Japan ( Tanikawa, 2000), Korea ( Namkung et al., 2009), Russia ( Marusik & Crawford, 2006).

Figures

Figure 3. Phylogenetic hypothesis for Plebs within a taxon sampling of Australian ‘eriophorine’ orb-weaving spiders (Araneidae) (length = 114, consistency index = 0.38, retention index = 0.72). Full circles indicate unambiguous synapomorphies and open circles homoplasious character state changes. Character numbers (above circles) and states (below circles) as in Table 1. The topology only shows unambiguous character state changes. Bremer support values are given in circles below branches.