Lathys Simon, 1884

Zhang, Zhi-Sheng, Hu, Dong-Sheng & Zhang, Yao-Guang, 2012, Notes on the spider genus Lathys Simon, 1884 (Araneae: Dictynidae), with description of four new species from China, Zootaxa 3359, pp. 1-16 : 2

Genus Lathys Simon, 1884

Lethia Menge 1869: 249 (preoccupied by Lethia Hübner, 1816 , in Lepidoptera).

Lathys Simon 1884: 321 ; Gertsch 1946: 1; Chamberlin & Gertsch 1958: 25; Song et al. 2001: 287; Almquist 2006: 318; Marusik et al. 2009a: 183 ; Ono & Ogata 2009: 134.

Type species. Lethia varia Menge, 1869 from Prussia, which is a junior synonymy of Ciniflo humilis Blackwall, 1855 .

Diagnosis. Lathys is similar to Scotolathys Simon, 1884 ( Marusik et al. 2009b) in having an uniform body shape, but can be distinguished by the distinctive body pattern, the presence of a group of complex tibial apophyses, an unmodified cymbium, the terminal part of conductor arrested by tibial apophyses and base of cymbium; the distinctly separated, medially and anteriorly originated copulatory openings, the relatively short copulatory ducts, and the small spermathecae.

Description. Dorsal shield of prosoma dark yellow or yellow brown, moderately high, convex. Fovea longitudinal extending, brownish. Cervical grooves and radial furrows distinct. Eight eyes in two rows or six in triads. Anterior eye row slightly recurved or straight, and posterior one procurved. AME smallest and ALE largest. Chelicerae with distinct lateral condyles, often with four or five anterior marginal and three to five posterior marginal teeth. Gnathocoxae yellow, nearly parallel to each other, longer than wide. Labium dark yellow or yellow brown, as long as wide, or slightly wider than long. Sternum as long as wide. Legs yellowish or greyish white, without spine. Female metatarsus IV with distinct calamistrum, composed by about ten setae. Calamistrum of male indistinct. Leg formula 1423 or 1243. Opisthosoma oval, with a more or less distinct pattern of dusky chevrons over a grayish base color, some of them with black and/or white scale-like markings dorsally. Cribellum undivided. Spinnerets short.

Male palp with finger-shaped patellar distal apophysis either presented dorsally or without. Tibia with three apophyses surrounding the terminal part of conductor (cf. Marusik et al. 2006b). Cymbium normal. Embolus long, whip-shaped or ribbon-shaped, extending along the margin of tegulum, or embedded in the anticlockwise (left palp) coiled distal arm of conductor. Conductor originated retrolatero-basally, with a long distal arm catching most part of embolus. The terminal part of conductor screw-like or straight, extending to the dorsal tibia, across the gap between the base of cymbium and the top of tibia and supported by three tibial apophyses. Epigyne with copulatory openings distinctly separated. Copulatory ducts coiled with one or more loops. Spermathecae spherical, located near the posterior margin of epigyne, separated by more than their diameter.

Distribution. North Africa, Europe, Asia and North America.