Plebs poecilus Joseph & Framenau, 2012

Joseph, Mathew M. & Framenau, Volker W., 2012, Systematic review of a new orb-weaving spider genus (Araneae: Araneidae), with special reference to the Australasian-Pacific and South-East Asian fauna, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (2), pp. 279-341 : 336

PLEBS POECILUS ( ZHU & WANG, 1994) COMB. NOV.

Zilla poecila Zhu & Wang, 1994 (in Zhu et al., 1994: 46, fig. 20A–C); Yin et al. 1997: 401–402, fig. 291a–c; Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 310, figs 184O–P, 185P.

Eriophora poecila – Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2006: 8, fig. 6A–C (transferred from Zilla ).

Types: Holotype. ♀ from Shaanxi Province ( China), Zhouzhi County, Taibai Mountain , 7.viii.1989, Xinping Wang ( MHBU). Not examined.

Material examined: No material was available for loan.

Remarks: Based on currently published illustrations, this species is only known from females and all illustrations show the epigyne scape broken off (e.g. Yin et al., 1997: fig. 291b; Zhang et al., 2006: fig. 6B): Our proposed transfer to Plebs , P. poecilus ( Zhu & Wang, 1994) comb. nov., is based not only on critical evaluation of these illustrations, but also on the perception of earlier authors who considered this species congeneric to other Plebs (as Zilla or Eriophora ).

Distribution: China ( Zhang et al., 2006).

Etymology: The specific epithet is considered an adjective derived from the Greek, poikilos (‘mottled’) and is here adjusted to follow the masculine gender of Plebs .