Caerostris sumatrana Strand, 1915

Omelko, Mikhail M. & Marusik, Yuri M., 2023, Ride on female for “ prima nocta ” or close attachment in the araneid spider Caerostris sumatrana Strand, 1915 (Araneae: Araneidae), Zootaxa 5311 (2), pp. 281-288 : 282-287

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.2.7

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DFAC99CD-EA32-45E3-B1CF-A80B8A36CA74

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8094420

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C04787F3-FFA7-FFB0-FF2E-FA3A42CBFCD8

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Caerostris sumatrana Strand, 1915
status

 

Caerostris sumatrana Strand, 1915 View in CoL View at ENA

( Figs 1–28 View FIGURES 1–9 View FIGURES 10–14 View FIGURES 15–23 View FIGURES 24–27 View FIGURE 28 )

C. sumatrana: Grasshoff, 1984: 758 View in CoL , figs 5, 40, 48 (m#).

C. sumatrana: Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 262 View in CoL , fig. 154C–E (f#).

C. sumatrana: Jäger, 2007: 37 View in CoL View Cited Treatment , figs 10–17 (m#f#).

For the complete list of taxonomic references see WSC (2022).

Material examined. male, subadult female ( FEFU), LAOS, Vientiane Prov., env. of Nam-Lik Eco-Village , 18°36′53.18″N 102°24′31.87″E, on web, coll. M.M. Omelko-senior, 28 June 2017 GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. The male of C. sumatrana can be easily differentiated from all its congeners by the large, flat conductor covering most of the bulb ventrally (vs. small conductor covering bulb partially). The female of C. sumatrana can be distinguished by the large dorsal carapace humps (vs. small), epigynal hooks overhanging copulatory openings (vs. not overhanging) and wide lamellar bristles on femur IV (vs. narrow).

Redescription. Male ( Figs 5–9 View FIGURES 1–9 ). Total length 4.73. Carapace 2.73 long, 2.70 wide. Carapace reddish brown anteriorly, dark brown posteriorly. Clypeus dark brown. Chelicerae dark brown anteriorly, reddish brown laterally. Labium and endites dark brown. Sternum brown, 1.26 long, 1.34 wide, widest between second and third coxae, dark brown without pattern. Eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.26, PME 0.16, ALE 0.10, PLE 0.08. AME–AME 0.30, PME – PME 0.67, PME–PLE 1.04, ALE–PLE 0.05, AME–PME 0.18. Clypeus 0.66 high. Lengths of leg segments as in Table 1 View TABLE 1 .

Palp brown except for cymbium (dark brown). Leg segments light brown without annulation, covered with white setae. Femur distally dark brown. Metatarsus IV strongly flattened dorsoventrally ( Fig. 9 View FIGURES 1–9 ).

Opisthosoma 2.74 long, 3.78 wide; dorsally flat, without humps, covered with short whitish setae; dorsally dark brown with yellow anterior edge, ventrally grayish.

Palp as in Figs 10–14 View FIGURES 10–14 . Femur/cymbium length ratio 0.92; patella slightly shorter than tibia; tibia/cymbium length ratio 0.42. Cymbium narrow, curved. Tibia trapezoid with small, triangular dorsal apophysis (Da. Conductor (C) large, covering whole bulbus dorsally with pointed tip (Ct) and granulation at its base (Cb). Embolus (E) long, coiled with wide base (Eb) and crack (Ec) indicating location of breaking during copulation (unique character of C. sumatrana , not known in its congeners Jäger (2007)). Tegulum (T) large membranous. Subtegulum (St) large with long extension (So) prolaterally.

Female (subadult). Total length 12.59. Carapace 7.07 long, 6.92 wide. Carapace dark brown with short white setae and large humps (Ch) dorsally and laterally. Clypeus dark brown. Chelicerae uniformly dark brown, covered with white setae. Labium and endites dark brown. Sternum brown, slightly darker in middle part, 2.80 long, 3.10 wide, widest between second leg, without setae. AME diameter 0.29, PME diameter 0.27, ALE diameter 0/17, PLE diameter 0.16. AME – AME distance 0.58, PME – PME distance 1.23, PME–PLE distance 2.92, ALE–PLE distance 0.10, AME–PME distance 0.35. Clypeus height 1.33. Lengths of leg segments as in Table 1 View TABLE 1 .

Palp brown with short setae and long white hairs at prolateral. Leg segments dark brown without annulation, covered with white setae. All segments, except for femora, strongly flattened dorsoventrally ( Figs 1, 2, 4 View FIGURES 1–9 ). Femur IV with wide, semi-transparent lamellar bristles (Lb, Fig. 3 View FIGURES 1–9 ).

Opisthosoma 9.72 long, 10.98 wide; dorsally yellowish, with a number of humps, covered with short whitish setae; ventrally grayish. Epigynum was well illustrated by Jäger (2007: figs 13–14).

Notes. Despite the fact that Caerostris sumatrana was described a long time ago, its male had not been discovered until recently ( Jäger, 2007). However, Jäger (2007) provided only two black-and-white drawings of the male palp and one of its prosoma in frontal view. Also, the description of the male did not include any measurements and the body coloration was not discussed. It is worth mentioning that no details about sexual biology of this species have been known prior to our study.

Distribution. India, China (Yunnan), Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia ( Fig. 28 View FIGURE 28 ).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Araneidae

Genus

Caerostris

Loc

Caerostris sumatrana Strand, 1915

Omelko, Mikhail M. & Marusik, Yuri M. 2023
2023
Loc

C. sumatrana: Jäger, 2007: 37

Jager, P. 2007: 37
2007
Loc

C. sumatrana:

Song, D. X. & Zhu, M. S. & Chen, J. 1999: 262
1999
Loc

C. sumatrana:

Grasshoff, M. 1984: 758
1984
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