Plator Simon, 1880

Zhu, Ming-Sheng, Tang, Gui-Ming, Zhang, Feng & Song, Da-Xiang, 2006, Revision of the spider family Trochanteriidae from China (Araneae: Gnaphosoidea), Zootaxa 1140 (1), pp. 31-51 : 33

Plator Simon, 1880

Plator Simon 1880: 106 ; Roewer 1955: 474; Bonnet 1958: 3699; Platnick 1976a: 3; 2002: 9. Hitoegumoa Kishida 1914: 44 . Type species by monotypy Hitoegumoa nipponica Kishida , first synonymized by Platnick 1976a: 3.

Type species. Plator insolens Simon, 1880 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis

Plator can be easily distinguished from Doliomalus by carapace much wider than long, semicircular in shape rather than rounded ( Fig. 1 ), and by the male with embolus short and wide at base rather than elongated and thickened ( Figs 6 , 12 ).

Description

Total length 5.10–10.82. Body flattened, legs laterigrade. Prosoma very flat, much wider than long, carapace bearing a strongly sclerotized carina along posterior margin, each side with four linear depressions (median groove and radial furrow), margins with single row of bristles, other areas clothed with fine hairs and sparse dark setae ( Fig. 1 ). Eight eyes in two rows, anterior eye row slightly recurved or straight, posterior eye row recurved; PLE largest, PME smallest, AME smaller than ALE; all eyes except PME with basal black marks. Chelicerae short, projecting forward, both margins with teeth. Labium longer than wide, arrow­shaped. Distal half of endites small, oval. Sternum wider than long, truncate anteriorly and posteriorly, rounded laterally, coxae IV separated by roughly three­fourths of their length. Leg formula 2341. Coxae greatly elongated ( Fig. 2 ). Anterior two pairs of legs with many erect spiniform bristles on ventral surfaces, but leg II not so many as leg I. Tarsi with two claws, without claw tufts or scopulae. Opisthosoma oval or nearly round, clothed dorsally with small paddle hairs and sparse dark setae bearing spinules ( Figs 36, 37 ). Colulus absent. Six spinnerents. Anterior and median spinnerets in transverse line; anteriors short, without visible spigots, medians with elongated tips bearing two longitudinal row of spigots; posterior spinnerets small, conical, sited both sides of anal tubercle ( Figs 40–42 ). The epigynum of females with variational margins. The pedipalpus of the males lacking or presenting a RTA.

The spiders of Plator are free­living wanders under the bark of trees, the rocks, or in the crevices of old buildings. They are considered to be a group of rare spiders in Chinese fauna.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Plator insolens Simon. 1 – 5. Female. 1, carapace, dorsal view; 2, labium, endites, sternum and coxae, ventral view; 3, left leg I, prolateral view; 4, epigynum, ventral view; 5, vulva, dorsal view; 6 – 7. Male left pedipalp. 6, Ventral view; 7, Retrolateral view. Scale bars: 1 – 3, 1 mm; 4 – 7, 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 8 – 13. Plator sinicus Zhu & Wang. 8 – 10. Female. 8, eyes, dorsal view; 9, epigynum, ventral view; 10, vulva, dorsal view; 11 – 13. Male left pedipalp. 11, ventro­retrolateral view; 12, ventral view; 13, retrolateral view. Scale bars: 8, 1 mm; 9 – 13, 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 36 – 39. Dorsal hairs and setae of females. 36 – 37. Plator insolens Simon; 38 – 39. Plator pennatus Platnick.

FIGURES 40 – 45. Spinnerets of females. 40 – 42. Plator sinicus Zhu & Wang, 40, anterior lateral; 41, posterior median; 42, posterior lateral. 43 – 45. Plator pennatus Platnick, 43, anterior lateral; 44, posterior median; 45, posterior lateral.