Raveniola yangren Lin & Li, 2022

Lin, Ye-Jie, Yan, Xunyou & Li, Shuqiang, 2022, Raveniola yangren sp. n., a new troglobiontic spider from Hunan, China (Araneae, Nemesiidae), Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 85946-85946 : 85946

Raveniola yangren Lin & Li, 2022 sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Yejie Lin; individualID: IZCAS-Ar42725; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: Adult ; Taxon : kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Arachnida ; order: Araneae ; family: Nemesiidae ; genus: Raveniola ; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Hunan; county: Baojing ; municipality: Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture ; locality: Wanmipo Town , a cave without name ; verbatimElevation: 321 m; verbatimLatitude: 28.7749°N; verbatimLongitude: 109.4884°E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; Event: samplingProtocol: by hand; year: 2022; month: 4; day: 15; habitat: cave; eventRemarks: cave used as wine cellar, 16.5°C, RH 66.2%. Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Yejie Lin; individualID: IZCAS-Ar42726, Ar 42727; individualCount: 2; sex: females; lifeStage: Adults ; Taxon : kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Arachnida ; order: Araneae ; family: Nemesiidae ; genus: Raveniola ; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Hunan; county: Baojing ; municipality: Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture ; locality: Wanmipo Town , a cave without name ; verbatimElevation: 321 m; verbatimLatitude: 28.7749°N; verbatimLongitude: 109.4884°E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; Event: samplingProtocol: by hand; year: 2022; month: 4; day: 15; habitat: cave; eventRemarks: cave used as wine cellar, 16.5°C, RH 66.2%. Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Yejie Lin; individualCount: 6; sex: females; lifeStage: adults; Taxon : kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Arachnida ; order: Araneae ; family: Nemesiidae ; genus: Raveniola ; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Hunan; county: Baojing ; municipality: Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture ; locality: Wanmipo Town , a cave without name ; verbatimElevation: 321 m; verbatimLatitude: 28.7749°N; verbatimLongitude: 109.4884°E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; Event: samplingProtocol: by hand; year: 2022; month: 4; day: 15; habitat: cave; eventRemarks: cave used as wine cellar, 16.5°C, RH 66.2%. Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Yejie Lin; individualCount: 23; lifeStage: juveniles; Taxon : kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Arachnida ; order: Araneae ; family: Nemesiidae ; genus: Raveniola ; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Hunan; county: Baojing ; municipality: Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture ; locality: Wanmipo Town , a cave without name ; verbatimElevation: 321 m; verbatimLatitude: 28.7749°N; verbatimLongitude: 109.4884°E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; Event: samplingProtocol: by hand; year: 2022; month: 4; day: 15; habitat: cave; eventRemarks: cave used as wine cellar, 16.5°C, RH 66.2 %.

Description

Female (Holotype): Fig. 1 .

Colouration in alcohol: Carapace and legs pale yellow and abdomen grey. Chelicerae dark red (Fig. 2 A, B).

Length: Total length 10.13.

Carapace: 4.43 long, 4.02 wide, 3.47 high, smooth, with two kinds of hairs: black erect bristles and fallen, slender, soft grey hairs; few bristles on margin. Eyes absent, the eye group area instead of eight bristles (Fig. 2 E). The bristles in longitudinal row running from eye field to fovea. Fovea deep, straight, on the one third of carapace, occupying about one eighth of carapace width at that point. Four pairs of radial furrows, the colour of first pair of radial furrows darkest (Fig. 2 A).

Chelicerae: 2.30 long, robust with long bristles dorsally and prolaterally. Promargin with dense brown hairs, retromargin with two rows of same sizes teeth: one row of ten teeth and the other with three denticles. Fang 1.89 long, basally dark brown, opening of the venom gland located dorsally.

Maxillae: 1.61 long, 0.94 wide, with 8/9 distinct black cuspules (Fig. 2 C).

Labium: 0.87 long, 0.82 wide, basal with a pair of fan-shaped reticulation areas, terminal white, with long bristles (Fig. 2 C).

Sternum: 2.50 long, 2.25 wide, covered with bristles of varying lengths, separated from labium by reticulation areas. Three pairs of sigilla, two anterior pairs small, oval; posterior pair of sigilla slightly larger than the previous two pairs (Fig. 2 C).

Palp and legs: Tarsus and half part of tibia with scopula on palp; tarsus, metatarsus, and half part of tibia with scopula on leg I, II (Fig. 2 F), scopula unobvious on leg III, IV. Trichobothria: Pa: Ta 1d(10), Ti 1d(8), 1d(8); leg I: Ta 1d(13), Me 1d(16), Ti 1pd-d(11), 1rd-d(11); leg II: Ta 1d(14), Me 1d(15), Ti 1pd-d(11), 1rd-d(11); leg III: Ta 1d(13), Me 1d(16), Ti 1pd-d(11), 1rd-d(11); leg IV: Ta 1d(16), Me 1d(15), Ti 1pd-d(11), 1rd-d(11). Spination: P: Ta 2v, Ti 4,2,3V, 1,1,1pl, Fe 2,1,1d; leg I: Me 2,2,1v, Ti 2,2,2v, Fe 1,1,1,0(1)d; leg II: Me 2,2,2v, Ti 2,2,2v, Fe 1,1,1,1d; leg III: Me 2,2,1d, 3,2,2v, 1,1rl, Ti 1,1d, 2,2,2v, 1,1rl, 1,1,1pl, Fe 2,2,2,1d; leg IV: Me 1d, 3,2,1(2),2v, 1,1,1(0)rl, 1(0)pl, Ti 1,1d, 3,2,2v, 1,1rl, 1,1,1pl, Fe 2,1,1,1d. Palp and legs measurements: P: 8.05 (2.78 + 1.07 + 2.30 + 1.90); leg I: 14.42 (4.18 + 1.98 + 3.68 + 2.70 + 1.88); leg II: 13.96 (3.86 + 2.04 + 3.29 + 2.79 + 1.98); leg III: 12.61 (3.11 + 1.33 + 3.09 + 3.24 + 1.84); leg IV: 16.41 (4.08 + 1.51 + 4.03 + 4.53 + 2.26). Leg formula: 4123.

Claw: Palp tarsus with one claw, leg tarsi with three claws, long and strongly curved. Proximal denticle on each side of paired tarsal claws. Denticle numbers: P 6; I 11, 11; II 11, 11; III 8, 9; IV 8, 7.

Abdomen: 5.29 long, 2.86 wide, oval, without any pattern, covered with bristles of varying lengths. Ten trichobothria in two rows longitudinal dorsally, basically distributed on both sides of the heart mark. Heart mark dark grey, sword-shaped (Fig. 2 A).

Spinnerets: One pair of spinnerets (posterior lateral spinnerets), 2.20 long (proximal segment 0.77, median 0.51, distal 0.86), sclerotised weak (Fig. 2 D).

Vulva (Fig. 3 A, B and C-10). Spermathecae white, two times longer than wide, head 1.5 times wider than the base of the stem; sclerotised weak. The pore glands more dense apically and becoming less numerous until the base. Apices broadly rounded. The ratio of the length of the spermathecae to the distance between the spermathecae is almost 1:1.

Diagnosis

The females of Raveniola yangren sp. n. resemble R. beelzebub Lin & Li, 2020 and R. lamia Yu & Zhang, 2021 by total reduction of eyes and the pale colouration (Fig. 2 A, B and E). However, the new species can be distinguished by the spermathecae unbranched (vs. branched in R. beelzebub , other Raveniola spp. from China, see Fig. 3 C) and the ratio of the length of spermathecae to the width is almost 2:1 (Fig. 3 A and B) (vs. 8:1 in R. lamia , see Fig. 3 C-6).

Etymology

The species is named after Yangren , a blind god who had hands with eyes in the palm in place of his normal eyes in Chinese traditional culture; noun in apposition.

Distribution

Known only from the type locality (China, Hunan).

Biology

Habitat under stones in the cave.

Taxon discussion

During the collection, 34 specimens of Raveniola yangren sp. nov were obtained, but no adult males were found. Therefore, the attribution cannot be determined from the male intercheliceral tumescence. We conclude from the hirsute carapace and well developed tarsal scopula that this new species should belong to Raveniola . At the same time, we note that the absence of PME in this new species is a distinctive feature. The presence of PMS was an important diagnostic feature in Nemesia versus Iberesia , but in Raveniola , this feature is highly variable. In R. hebeinica , the number of PME varies from 0 to 2 (Yu, personal communication). Therefore, we consider that the number of PME cannot be used as a character in Raveniola . For the above reasons, we classify this new species in Raveniola rather than independently as a new genus, although it has very specific cave-adapted characters.

Figures

Figure 1. Raveniola yangren sp. n., live. A paratype, B holotype, in situ.

Figure 2. Raveniola yangren sp. n., holotype female. A habitus, dorsal, B same, ventral, C labium and sternum, D spinnerets, E ocular area, F leg I. Arrow shows scopula on tibia.

Figure 3. Raveniola spp., female genitalia, ventral view. A, B R. yangren sp. n., holotype female, C- 1 R. beelzebub, C- 2 R. bellula Li & Zonstein, 2015, C- 3 R. chayi Li & Zonstein, 2015, C- 4 R. gracilis Li & Zonstein, 2015, C- 5 R. hebeinica Zhu, F. Zhang & J. X. Zhang, 1999, C- 6 R. lamia, C- 7 R. montana Zonstein & Marusik, 2012, C- 8 R. xizangensis (Hu & Li, 1987), C- 9 R. yajiangensis Li & Zonstein, 2015, C- 10 R. yangren sp. n.