Neobrettus heongi Barrion & Barrion-Dupo

Alberto T. Barrion, Aimee Lynn A. Barrion-Dupo, Josie Lynn A. Catindig, Sylvia C. Villareal, Ducheng Cai, Qianhua Yuan & Kong Luen Heong, 2016, NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS (ARANEAE) FROM HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA, UPLB Museum Publications in Natural History 3, pp. 1-103 : 24-25

Neobrettus heongi Barrion & Barrion-Dupo , new species [ Figure 26 A-F]

MALE. Holotype male, total length 3.10 mm. Cephalothorax length 1.70 mm., width 1.50 mm. Abdomen length 1.80 mm, width 1.45 mm. Paratype male, total length 2.80 mm. Cephalothorax length 1.65 mm, width 1.60 mm. Abdomen length 1.70 mm, width 1.40 mm. Paratype female, total length 4.00 mm. Cephalothorax length 1.90 mm, width 1.70 mm. Abdomen length 2.10 mm, width 2.10 mm.

Carapace. Long dark blue green hairs covered the carapace in fresh live specimens. In alcohol, carapace brown except for black eye margins and square-like yellow plate in the eye area. Thoracic area more heavily sclerotized than the cephalic area. Lateral margins of carapace with four vertically straight brown bands. Chelicerae yellow with gray tinge frontomedially, 1.9x longer than wide and bear a single (unidentate) retromarginal tooth. Promargin with two teeth. Apico-inner chelicerae with 15 or more long and inwardly curved hairs. Pedipalps dark brown except yellow brown patellae. Maxillae yellow almost as wide as long, apicoprolaterals strongly convex, narrow basally and parallel-sided retrolaterally. Labium yellowish brown to yellow, subtruncate anterior margin lined with brown hairs anterolaterally. Sternum yellow with slightly pointed posterior end, 1.44x longer than wide.

Eyes. In three rows of 4, 2 and 2. AER recurved. Eye diameter (mm): AME (0.39)> ALE (0.20)> PLE (0.17)> PME (0.11). Clypeus height narrow, barely 0.15 AME diameter.

Legs. Yellow with longitudinal dark brown bands on retrolateroventral of femur I, venter of patella I, basal two-thirds of retrolateroventral and apicoretrolateral one-third of tibia I extended to metatarsus I. Leg II band pattern of patella to metatarsus similar to leg I. Prolateroventral of patella III to metatarsus III, prolateral of patella IV and both laterals of tibia IV bear similar bands. Prolateroventral sides of femur I and tibia I with a thick mass of gray and white semiclub-like hairs forming a fan. Three trichobothria present on tibia I located on basal 0.16, 0.20 and 0.60 of tibia I length. Leg formula 4123.

Abdomen. Ovoid, 1.24x longer than wide. Color as in carapace in live specimen. In alcohol, it is brown with black hairs anteriorly and dark brown triangular spot posteriorly.

Palpal organ with basal tegulum lobed at 6 o’clock and relatively long femoral organ (M1) and rhomboid M2 present. Ventral tibial apophysis short, with a bulb-like process at tip. Entire tegulum 1.22x longer than wide.

FEMALE. Similar to male except for more robust body size and less colorful body hairs. Total length ranges from 3.25-4.00 mm.

Abdomen. Prominently ovoid, anteriorly and broadly rounded posteriorly.

narrow

Epigynum with a pair of small oblique copulatory opening on each side of a short scape, spermathecae oblique and diverging towards posterior epigynal margin, copulatory tube M-shaped.

Material Examined. Holotype male (coll. no. Dap 47), CHINA, Hainan Island, Dapo town, Dapo village, 25 March-9 April 2012, ATBarrion, JLACatindig and SCVillareal; paratypes 2 males, 3 females and 3 immatures, same data as holotype.

Diagnostic Features. This species closely resembles N. tibialis (Proszynski,1978) but differs from the latter in terms of the (1) epigynal structure, (2) femoral organs (M1 and M2), (3) highly colorful hairs of the males, (4) leg measurements--metatarsus I and II subequal & tarsus I as long as II, and (5) heavily sclerotized thoracic plate distinct from the cephalic plate.

Etymology. Patronym, in honor of Dr. Kong Luen Heong, IRRI Principal Scientist, Insect Ecologist and Project Leader of the biodiversity exploration and conservation in Hainan Island.

Figures

Figure 26 A-F. Neobrettus heongi Barrion & Barrion-Dupo, new species, holotype male (A), chelicerae and dentation (B), ventral (C) and dorsal (D) views of male pedipalp, leg I (E) and ventral view of female epigynum (F).