Meotipa vesiculosa Simon, 1895

Deng, Zhongwei, Agnarsson, Ingi, Chen, Zhanqi & Liu, Jie, 2022, Meotipa species (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China, ZooKeys 1082, pp. 153-178 : 153

Meotipa vesiculosa Simon, 1895

Figures 6A-H , 10

Meotipa vesiculosa Simon, 1894: 514, figs 522, 527 (nomen nudum); Simon 1895: 134 (description of female); Deeleman-Reinhold 2009: 415, figs 13-19 (transferred from Chrysso ); Yoshida 2009: 378, figs 205-207 (male and female).

Chrysso vesiculosa Levi, 1962: 232, figs 80, 81 (female); Yaginuma 1986: 45, fig. 24-1 (female); Chikuni 1989: 32, fig. 15 (female); Zhu 1998: 51, fig. 25A-C (female); Song et al. 1999: 107, fig. 51E, F (female); Yoshida 2003: 125, figs 336, 339-340, 583 (female); Yoshida 2006: 23, figs 1-7 (female); Yin et al. 2012: 305, fig. 115a-f (male and female).

Chrysso jianglensis Zhu & Song, in Song et al. 1993: 857, fig. 9A-C (description of male); Zhu 1998: 68, fig. 39A-C (male); Song et al. 1999: 103, fig. 49K, L (male).

Material examined (holotype not examined).

Yunnan Province: 4♀, Mengla County, Menlun Town, Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (21.93°N, 101.25°E, 570 m), 22 March 2018, F.X. Liu & Z.C. Li leg. (CBEE); Hunan Province: 4♀, Changsha City, Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area (28.19°N, 112.94°E, 210 m), 12 August 2018, Z.C. Li & Z.W. Deng leg. (CBEE); 1♀, Hengyang City, Hengshan Mountain Scenic Area (27.27°N, 112.71°E, 1300 m), 17 August 2018, Z.C. Li & Z.W. Deng leg. (CBEE).

Diagnosis.

This species can be distinguished from other Meotipa species by the combination of following characters: (1) atrium large, with shallow heart-shaped depression (Fig. 6D ); (2) lateral edges of spermathecae aligned with copulatory ducts (Fig. 6H ); (3) conductor expanding laterally converting to ring-shape distally (see Yoshida 2009: fig. 207); (4) embolus incurved and long, knife shaped distally (see Yin et al. 2012: fig. 115e, f).

Description.

Female. Cephalothorax pale yellow with a red-brown central stripe; cephalic area relatively long and broad; clypeus narrow, bulged out. Eyes in two rows and nearly uniform in size, strongly recurved; AME separation is greater than AME-ALE, and PE are arranged at almost equal distances; AME black, PME eyes pearly white (Fig. 6A ). Sternum deep yellow, triangular, lateral margins slightly indented. Labium contiguous with the sternum, brown, triangular. Chelicera vertical, deep yellow with red fang (Fig. 6B ). Legs yellowish white with small hairs and bearing a few dark short spines, the end of tibiae with a black ring in each legs and femur of all legs have small black spots. Leg formula 1423. Pedipalp yellowish white, single-clawed, with many short hairs; tibia with a black ring on the extreme and bearing a lanceolate spine laterally (Fig. 6A, B ). Opisthosoma approximately triangular laterally, dorsally provided with numerous white and black spots, posterior region extending downwardly towards spinnerets. Two pairs of dorsolateral abdominal humps, black distally (Fig. 6A-C ). Atrium large, with a clear herringbone structure medially (Fig. 6D ). Copulatory ducts and fertilization ducts short and both of them extending into spermathecae at the same position (Fig. 6H ). Spermathecae large, oval-shaped (Fig. 6G ).

Male. Not collected.

Distribution.

China (Fujian; Guangxi; Hunan; Taiwan; Yunnan, newly recorded), Vietnam to Japan, Philippines, Indonesia.

Figures

Figure 6. Meotipa vesiculosa Simon, 1895 A-C female habitus (A dorsal B prolateral C ventral). D-H epigynum (D ventral, on the body E, F in the alcohol E ventral F dorsal G, H in gum arabic G ventral H dorsal). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-C); 0.1 mm (D-H). Abbreviations: CO = copulatory opening, CD = copulatory duct, FD = fertilization duct, S = spermathecae.

Figure 10. Map with sampling localities for Meotipa species from China: 1 M. argyrodiformis 2 M. pulcherrima 3 M. picturata 4 M. spiniventris 5 M. vesiculosa 6 M. pseudopicturata sp. nov. 7 M. striata sp. nov ..