Clubiona corticalis group

Atalia Thorell, 1887: 54 (type species A. concinna Thorell, 1887).

Clubiona: Simon 1897: 76 (synonymised Atalia); Deeleman-Reinhold 2001: 90 (synonymised Paraclubiona).

Clubiona corticalis group: Simon 1932: 905; Mikhailov 1990: 142; Deeleman-Reinhold 2001: 90.

Paraclubiona Lohmander, 1944: 19 (type species Aranea corticalis Walckenaer, 1802).

Diagnosis.

See Mikhailov (1995), Deeleman-Reinhold (2001), and Yu and Li (2019a).

Description.

See Mikhailov (1995) and Deeleman-Reinhold (2001).

Composition and distribution.

Based on previous publications (Mikhailov 1995, 1998; Deeleman-Reinhold 2001; Ono and Hayashi 2009; Huang and Chen 2012; Wu et al. 2015; Yu and Li 2019a, b; Zhang and Yu 2020), at least 67 Clubiona species have been assigned to the Clubiona corticalis group (from rows 1-67 in Table 3). A few other known species (from rows 68-73 in Table 3) resemble to some species in rows 1-67, but as no one indicated the group placement of these species, they are assigned tentatively to the Clubiona corticalis group in the present paper for the lack of a better solution.

Comments.

At least two generic names are available for the Clubiona corticalis group, Atalia Thorell, 1887 (type species A. concinna) and Paraclubiona Lohmander, 1944 (type species C. corticalis) (Zhang et al. 2018). The two taxa are currently considered junior synonyms of Clubiona (Wu et al. 2015; WSC 2021). The Clubiona corticalis group is one of the most speciose clubionid groups and can be further divided into at least four or five subgroups based on morphological characters and molecular data (pers. obs.). We believe that the group deserves the status of a separate genus that can be further divided into several species groups in the future. A review of the genus Clubiona sensu lato and the Clubiona corticalis group are not within the scope of this work.

Most species of the C. corticalis group are known from both sexes (Table 3); six species are known from males only: C. fanjingshan, C. huiming, and C. subcylindrica from Mt. Fanjing in Guizhou Province (1000 km from Xishuangbanna) and C. lamina, C. aculeata, and C. tengchong from northwest Yunnan (ca. 500 km from Xishuangbanna, Southeast Yunnan). We describe six new species known from females only in the present paper. In consideration of limited distribution ranges in almost all of the Clubiona corticalis group species (Table 3), Xishuangbanna species are less likely to conspecific to the six species which are known from males only. None of our new species could be matched with C. lamina, C. aculeata, and C. tengchong due to their different habitus: Xishuangbanna species exhibit typical Southeast Asian Clubiona corticalis group features, such as a lack of dark markings on the abdomen (Figs 2F, G, 15F, G, 18F, G, 22F, G, 23F, G, 24F, G) (vs. posteriorly with several chevron-shaped patterns dorsally on the abdomen of C. lamina, C. aculeata, and C. tengchong).