Mallinella bigemina Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012

Dankittipakul, Pakawin, Koh, Joseph K. H. & Singtripop, Tippawan, 2014, Three new species and a new record of the spider genus Mallinella Strand, 1906 from Brunei (Araneae, Zodariidae), Zootaxa 3826 (2), pp. 377-385 : 378

Mallinella bigemina Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012

( Figs 5–6 , 12–14 )

Mallinella bigemina Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012: 254 , f. 1109, 1165–1167; Koh & Leong, 2013: 334.

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, MALAYSIA, Sabah State: Mt. Kinabalu NP, Lumu-Lumu, 6,300 feet, 25 July 1951, leg. R. Traub ( AMNH, examined, Fig. 4 ). New material: BRUNEI, Belait: Andulau Forest near Sungai Lumut (N04°38′ 39″, E114°30′ 29″), foliage in logged but regenerated forest, 7 September 2007, J.K.H. Koh leg., 1♀ (BM, JK.07.09.01.0061). Sungai Ingei, foliage in primary lowland mixed dipterocarp forest (N04O09’20 E114O42’20), 26 March 2011, J.K.H. Koh leg., 1♀ (LKCNHM, JK.11.03.26.0032).

Remarks. The newly collected females from Brunei show the same configuration of internal genitalia ( Figs 12–14 ) identical with the female holotype previously reported from Mt. Kinabalu (see also Dankittipakul et al., 2012, figs 1165–1167). However, in the Brunei specimens, the epigynal plate is represented by a transverse, narrowed band with strongly rebordered posterior margin ( Fig. 5 ), lacking the enlarged posterior median hump that is protruding over the epigastric furrow as shown in the holotype ( Fig. 6 ). The males remain unknown.

Natural history. M. bigemina is comparatively rare in Brunei, compared to M. merimbunenis sp. nov. However, both species were collected by beating foliage in primary and secondary forests at low altitudes. There is no explicit indication whether the holotype was also collected from foliage at Mt. Kinabalu, but at 2000 m altitude, the foliage would have been too sparse compared to the dense foliage inhabited by the specimens in the lowland forests in Brunei. It could be that the holotype from Mt. Kinabalu might have been collected from forest litter.

Distribution. Borneo ( Brunei and Sabah). M. bigemina apparently has broad distribution range.

Figures

FIGURES 4 – 11. 4. Leg I – III, showing tubercle (indicated by arrow). 5 – 9, 11. Epigyne, ventral. 10. Internal female genitalia, anterior. 4. Mallinella merimbunenis sp. nov., male holotype. 5. M. bigemina Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012, new material from Brunei. 6. M. bigemina, female holotype. 7. M. albomaculata (Bosmans & Hillyard, 1990), female paratype. 8. M. merimbunenis sp. nov., female paratype. 9 – 10. M. myrmecophaga sp. nov., female holotype. 11. M. platyrhyncha sp. nov., female holotype.

FIGURES 12 – 21. 12, 18. Internal female genitalia, dorsal. 20. Ditto, lateral. 13. Left spermatheca, anterior. 14, 21. Right spermatheca, contralateral. 15. Male palp, prolateral. 16. Ditto, ventral. 17. Ditto, retrolateral. 19. Right spermatheca, anterior. 12 – 14. Mallinella bigemina Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012, new female from Brunei. 15 – 17. M. merimbunenis sp. nov., male holotype. 18 – 21. M. merimbunenis sp. nov., female paratype. Scale bar: 0.1 mm (15 – 17); 0.25 mm (12 – 14, 18 – 21).