Vappolotes tianjiayu Li, Zhao & Li, 2023

Li, Bing, Zhao, Zhe, Li, Shuqiang & Xie, Chunyan, 2023, Description of the unknown male of Vappolotes tianjiayu Li, Zhao & Li, 2023 (Araneae, Agelenidae, Coelotinae) from China, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 114147-114147 : 114147

Vappolotes tianjiayu Li, Zhao & Li, 2023

Vappolotes tianjiayu Vappolotes tianjiayu Li, Zhao & Li, 2023: 330, figs. 4A-E (female).

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44376 ; recordedBy: Yulong Li & Zhigang Chen; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: D45D8BC1-932D-545E-B7D9-0A3BABF36E8E; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City, Shimen County, Hupingshan Town, Tianjiayu Village , an unnamed cave ; verbatimElevation: 448 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9065; verbatimLongitude: 110.8087; Event: year: 2016; month: 4; day: 14 Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44382 ; recordedBy: Yulong Li & Zhigang Chen; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 8AC445B4-B138-5E5C-95DB-C02D0E1915F2; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City, Shimen County, Hupingshan Town, Qingshanxi Village , an unnamed cave ; verbatimElevation: 442 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9869; verbatimLongitude: 110.863; Event: year: 2016; month: 4; day: 12 Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44377-381 ; recordedBy: Yulong Li & Zhigang Chen; individualCount: 5; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 51518BFF-8FF2-5431-98B2-7F4E5F3DF325; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City, Shimen County, Hupingshan Town, Tianjiayu Village , an unnamed cave ; verbatimElevation: 448 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9065; verbatimLongitude: 110.8087; Event: year: 2016; month: 4; day: 14 Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44383 ; recordedBy: Yulong Li & Zhigang Chen; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: A521E119-2755-5FE1-A792-BCDD330D6E65; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City, Shimen County, Hupingshan Town, Tianjiayu Village , another an unnamed cave ; verbatimElevation: 455 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9066; verbatimLongitude: 110.8088; Event: year: 2016; month: 4; day: 14 Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44384-386 ; recordedBy: Yulong Li & Zhigang Chen; individualCount: 3; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 852DEAEF-60CE-5F0F-A8C9-E09087DC0BDD; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City, Shimen County, Hupingshan Town, Guluo Village , Guluo Cave ; verbatimElevation: 395 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9362; verbatimLongitude: 110.8574; Event : year: 2016; month: 4; day: 12 Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44788 ; recordedBy: Zhe Zhao & Xiaoqing Zhang; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: BF5CC0D0-72D0-53D0-9E3F-8D01DB3EEC40; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City, Shimen County, Hupingshan Town, Guluo Village , Guluo Cave ; verbatimElevation: 356 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9389; verbatimLongitude: 110.8523; Event : year: 2023; month: 8; day: 29 Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IZCAS-Ar44789 ; recordedBy: Zhe Zhao & Xiaoqing Zhang; individualCount: 8; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 51227165-C745-586E-A5A8-A5CC94248633; Taxon: scientificName: Vappolotes tianjiayu; Location : country: China; stateProvince: Hunan; locality: Changde City , Shimen County, Hupingshan Town , Guluo Village , Guluo Cave ; verbatimElevation: 356 m; verbatimLatitude: 29.9389; verbatimLongitude: 110.8523; Event : year: 2023; month: 8; day: 29

Description

Male (first description) (IZCAS-Ar44788) (Fig. 1 A and B). Total length 6.27. Carapace 3.18 long, 2.09 wide. Abdomen 3.09 long, 1.82 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.12, ALE 0.17, PME 0.20, PLE 0.19; AME-AME 0.03, PME-PME 0.07, AME-PME 0.06, ALE-PLE 0.01, AME-ALE 0.03, PME-PLE 0.05. Leg measurements: I: 13.48 (0.83, 0.24, 3.13, 1.11, 3.01, 2.99, 2.17); II: 12.64 (0.88, 0.23, 3.05, 0.94, 2.81, 2.79, 1.94); III: 11.88 (0.81, 0.27, 2.59, 0.98, 2.51, 2.88, 1.84); IV: 15.37 (1.01, 0.34, 3.38, 0.95, 3.38, 4.04, 2.27). Leg formula 4> 1> 2> 3. Carapace yellowish-brown (Fig. 1 A), chelicerae reddish-brown with three promarginal teeth and two retromarginal teeth, endites and labium white to brownish (lighter than chelicerae) towards the base (Fig. 1 B), sternum yellowish-brown (Fig. 1 B), legs yellowish-brown without ring flecks, abdomen grey, with four to five grey chevrons posterodorsally (Fig. 1 A), spinnerets yellowish-brown with grey hair (Fig. 1 A, B). Palp (Fig. 2 A-C): femur long, ca. 3.5 times longer than patella and three times longer than tibia (Fig. 2 A); cymbial furrow long and thick, throughout the cymbium (Fig. 2 C); patellar apophysis small, ca. 1/6 the length of patella, longer than wide, dark distally (Fig. 2 C); retrolateral tibial apophysis thumb-shaped, while lateral tibial apophysis triangular (Fig. 2 C); conductor complex, anteriorly spoon-shaped with lamella, dorsally strong and thick with a blunt distal end (Fig. 2 B), posteriorly lamellar, with a small concavity, extending diagonally downwards in the retrolateral view (Fig. 2 C); embolus long, slender and filiform (Fig. 2 A-C), originating around a 3 o’clock position in the ventral view (Fig. 2 B).

Female (holotype, examined) (IZCAS-Ar44376, XQ270) (Fig. 3 A and B cited figs. 4A and B in Li et al. (2023a)). For descriptions, see Li et al. (2023a).

Natural History

Guluo Cave (entrance to the Guluo Cave in Fig. 4 A) is one of the karst caves. Specimens were collected on 29 Aug 2023 from the rock walls of this cave (pointed by the white arrow in Fig. 4 B). Previous studies have also documented this species as cave-dwelling species found in karst caves ( Li et al. 2023a).

Diagnosis

The male Vappolotes tianjiayu resembles V. ganlongensis (type species of Vappolotes ) by the size and shape of patellar apophysis, retrolateral tibial apophysis and lateral tibial apophysis, long and filiform embolus and spoon-shaped anterior conductor with lamella. However, it can be distinguished from V. ganlongensis as follows: 1) anterior conductor accounts for a third of the whole in V. tianjiayu (Fig. 2 B) vs. accounts for two-thirds of conductor in V. ganlongensis (fig. 2B Li et al. (2019b)); 2) dorsal conductor with a blunt distal end in V. tianjiayu (Fig. 2 B) vs. pointed in V. ganlongensis (fig. 2B in Li et al. (2019b)); 3) embolic base beginning horizontally in V. tianjiayu (Fig. 2 A-C) vs. vertically in V. ganlongensis (fig. 2A-C in Li et al. (2019b)). For diagnosis of the female, see Li et al. (2023a).

Distribution

China, Hunan ( Li et al. 2019b, Li et al. 2023a and current record).

Figures

Figure 1. Male habitus of Vappolotes tianjiayu. A dorsal view; B ventral view. Scale bar equal for A and B.

Figure 2. Left male palp of Vappolotes tianjiayu. A prolateral view; B ventral view; C retrolateral view. Scale bar equal for A-C. Abbreviations: AC = anterior conductor; CF = cymbial furrow; DC = dorsal conductor; E = embolus; EB = embolic base; LC = lamella of conductor; LTA = lateral tibial apophysis; PA = patellar apophysis; PC = posterior conductor; RTA = retrolateral tibial apophysis; ST = subtegulum; T = tegulum; TS = tegulum sclerite.

Figure 3. Epigyne of Vappolotes tianjiayu. A epigyne, ventral view; B vulva, dorsal view. Scale bar equal for A and B. Abbreviations: CD = copulatory duct; CO = copulatory opening; S = spermatheca.

Figure 4. Habitat of Guluo Cave, Hunan, China. A entrance to the Guluo Cave (by Cuncun Yang); B inside of the Guluo Cave and the white arrow shows where the species inhabit (by Zhe Zhao).