Merizocera Fage, 1912

Chang, Wan-Jin, Yao, Zhiyuan & Li, Shuqiang, 2020, Twenty-eight new species of the spider genus Merizocera Fage, 1912 (Araneae, Psilodercidae) from South and Southeast Asia, ZooKeys 961, pp. 41-118 : 41

Genus Merizocera Fage, 1912

Type species.

Ochyrocera cruciata Simon 1893a: 282, fig. 245, from Sri Lanka.

Diagnosis.

Merizocera can be recognised by the following combination of characters: 1) presence of cymbial protrusion (except M. mainling sp. nov. and M. tanintharyi sp. nov.); 2) bulb and cymbium almost similar in length or bulb longer than cymbium; 3) absence of clypeal protrusion (except M. mainling sp. nov. and M. putao sp. nov.); 4) presence or absence of conductor, if present, connected basally with embolus; 5) elongated pyriform bulb with embolus and conductor (if present) arising distally; 6) cheliceral promargin with lamina having three triangular extensions, retromargin with two small teeth.

Composition.

Merizocera cruciata (♂♀) (the type species), M. baoshan sp. nov. (♂♀), M. betong sp. nov. (♂♀), M. brincki (♂), M. colombo sp. nov. (♂♀), M. crinita (♂♀), M. galle sp. nov. (♂♀), M. hponkanrazi sp. nov. (♂), M. kachin sp. nov. (♂♀), M. kandy sp. nov. (♂♀), M. mandai sp. nov. (♂♀), M. krabi sp. nov. (♂♀), M. kurunegala sp. nov. (♂♀), M. lincang sp. nov. (♀), M. mainling sp. nov. (♂♀), M. nyingchi sp. nov. (♀), M. oryzae (♀), M. peraderiya sp. nov. (♂♀), M. phuket sp. nov. (♂♀), M. picturata (♂♀), M. putao sp. nov. (♂♀), M. pygmaea (♀), M. ranong sp. nov. (♂♀), M. ratnapura sp. nov. (♂♀), M. salawa sp. nov. (♂), M. stellata (♀), M. tak sp. nov. (♀), M. tanintharyi sp. nov. (♂♀), M. tengchong sp. nov. (♂), M. thenna sp. nov. (♂♀), M. uva sp. nov. (♀), M. wenshan sp. nov. (♂♀), M. wui sp. nov. (♂♀), M. yala sp. nov. (♀) and M. yuxi sp. nov. (♂♀).

Remarks.

Although the genus Merizocera cannot be sufficiently delineated by features of their female genitalia, the somatic morphology and male palp structures are consistent with those of Merizocera sensu Li & Li, 2018.

Distribution.

The genus is represented by species ranging from Sri Lanka to China’s western and southern provinces and to parts of mainland Southeast Asia and beyond, with Java in Indonesia as its currently known southern limit.