Clubiona circulata Zhang & Yin, 1998 Figs 34, 35, 59C, 69C, 79A, 87A, 95A

Clubiona circulata Zhang & Yin, 1998: 9, figs 1-2 (♀ only, ♂ mismatched).

Clubiona vukomi Jäger & Dankittipakul, 2010: 27, figs 13-21 (♂). Syn. nov.

Material examined.

1♂, China: Yunnan Province: Xishuangbanna: Mengla County: Menglun Town: XTBG, rubber Clubiona plantation, 21°54.498'N, 101°16.326'E, ca. 586 m, 17.VII.2007, G. Zheng leg ; 2♀, XTBG, rubber Clubiona plantation, 21°54.350'N, 101°16.461'E, ca. 614 m, 11.VIII.2007, G. Zheng leg; 1♂ (YHCLU0108), Jinghong City: Menghai County: Manda Village, secondary forest, 22°1.702'N, 100°23.697'E, ca. 1188 m, 28.VII.2012, Q.Y. Zhao and Z.G. Chen leg ; 1♀ (YHCLU0156), XTBG, seedling culture base, 21°54.007'N, 101°16.395'E, ca. 550 m, 10.V.2019, H. Yu et al. leg; 7♂ 6♀, XTBG, Flocculus banyan Clubiona plantation, 22°4.598'N, 100°37.013'E, ca. 1137 m, 21.VIII.2011, Q.Y. Zhao and C.X. Gao leg;

Diagnosis.

The female of C. circulata is easily differentiated from other members of the group by having an epigynal atrium with ˄-shaped anterior margin and a V-shaped posterior margin (Figs 35A, B, 79A, 87A) (vs. anterior margin not ˄-shaped, atrial posterior margin absent in almost all others, including C. reichlini, C. grucollaris, and C. lala; Figs 37A, B, 79B, 87B, 41A, B, 79C, 87C, 43A, B, 79D, 87D). Males of C. cicrulata differ from all other group members by the large and strongly sclerotised, horn-shaped conductor, pointing retrolatero-distally (Fig. 34B-E) (vs. conductors of almost all other congroupers, such as C. grucollaris and C. suthepica, are beak-shaped, pointing retrolatero-proximally; Figs 40B-E, 60A, 70A, 46B-E, 59D, 69D).

Description.

Male. See Jäger and Dankittipakul (2010). Male palp as in Figs 34, 59C, 69C, habitus as in Fig. 35E, F.

Female. (Fig. 35G, H): Total length 6.00; carapace 2.67 long, 2.01 wide; opisthosoma 3.33 long, 1.59 wide. Carapace reddish brown, anteriorly darker, with a pair of indistinct, Y-shaped purplish patterns starting from behind PER, almost reaching indistinct cervical groove, fovea dark reddish; cephalic region raised, radial grooves indistinct; tegument smooth, with erect, thin, dark setae on the front ridge. Eyes: AER slightly recurved, PER slightly wider than AER, almost straight in dorsal view. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.10, ALE 0.14, PME 0.13, PLE 0.09, AME-AME 0.08, AME-ALE 0.04, PME-PME 0.24, PME-PLE 0.16, MOQL 0.40, MOQA 0.36, MOQP 0.51. Chelicerae robust and dark brownish red, promargin with three teeth, retromargin with two subequal teeth. Sternum pale yellow, 1.43 long, 1.01 wide. Labium and endites orange. Legs light brown, without distinct markings. Leg measurements: I 7.40 (2.11, 3.00, 1.46, 0.83), II 7.88 (2.26, 3.14, 1.62, 0.86), III 6.30 (1.69, 2.23, 1.88, 0.53), IV 9.58 (2.55, 3.34, 2.96, 0.74). Abdomen elongate, oval, with a thick tuft of setae anteriorly; dorsum with broken purplish longitudinal band medially, starting anteriorly for half the length; 6-7 pair of broken lateral bands fused posteriorly. Venter uniformly creamy white, without markings.

Epigyne (Figs 35A-D, 79A, 87A, 95A). Epigynal plate ca. 1.1 × longer than wide, through which large spermathecae and bursae are clearly visible. Atrium distinctly large, with rebordered margin, more than 2/3 epigyne length and 4/5 epigyne width; atrial anterior margin long and shaped like ˄, atrial posterior margin relatively short and nearly V- or U-shaped. Copulatory openings near the middle part of the epigyne, close to the anterolateral borders of the APM. Copulatory ducts distinct, almost equal to bursae length, extending obliquely toward the anterior, between the spermathecae, before abruptly bending posteriorly, finally entering the connecting piece between the spermathecae and bursae. Spermathecae relatively small, lobe-shaped, separated by two diameters. Fertilisation ducts acicular, membranous, located terminally on spermathecae. Bursae oblong, 1.4 × longer than wide, close together, bursal surface hyaline, wrinkled and ribbed, inside pigmented and sclerotised.

Remarks.

Clubiona circulata was described based on five females and two males from Xishuangbanna. The female was chosen as the holotype. However, we have found that the male and female of C. circulata were mismatched. While examining spider specimens collected from Xishuangbanna, we found pairs of Clubiona filicata group specimens in the same location that have a similar habitus, markings, leg spination, and other characters (Fig. 35E-H). Therefore, it is very likely they are the opposite sexes of the same species. The females were identified as C. circulata based on comparison with the original illustrations of Zhang and Yin (1998). However, the males were identified to be C. vukomi, which was established as a new species by Jäger and Dankittipakul (2010) from Luang Nam Tha Province in Laos. Our molecular analysis of COI indicates that the female of C. circulata and the male of C. vukomi are conspecific, and therefore C. vukomi should be considered a junior synonym of C. circulata .

Distribution.

Thailand (Chiang Mai Province and district, Chai Ya Phum Province), Laos (Luang Nam Tha Province), China (Yunnan).