Wanniyala, Huber & Benjamin, 2005

Huber, Bernhard A. & Benjamin, Suresh P., 2005, The pholcid spiders from Sri Lanka: redescription of Pholcus ceylonicus and description of a new genus (Araneae: Pholcidae), Journal of Natural History 39 (37), pp. 3305-3319 : 3311

Wanniyala new genus

Type species. Wanniyala agrabopath , new species.

Etymology

Named for the Wanniyala-Aetto or ‘‘forest people’’, an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, commonly known as Veddahs. They are the earliest inhabitants with any living descendants in Sri Lanka. They have lived in their forest environment as hunter-gatherers for the past 18,000 years, but are now endangered due to rapid development and destruction of the forest habitat.

Diagnosis

Small pholcids (body length about 2 mm) with six eyes, long legs, and globular abdomen, distinguished from other pholcines by the male genitalia [procursus with distinctive distal hinged sclerite ( Figure 7a, b, e, f ), ventral transparent projection (t 1 in Figure 7 ), prolateral proximal projection, and brush-like structure (t 3 in Figure 7 ), bulb with tubular embolus and single sclerotized projection ( Figure 6a )], and by the combination of modified clypeus ( Figure 6c ), reduction of ALS spigots ( Figure 8b, c ), and large number of short vertical hairs on male metatarsi.

Description

See descriptions of the two species below.

Distribution

Known only from Sri Lanka ( Figure 9 ). The genus might also occur in India, but the pholcid fauna of India has barely been studied.

Composition and relationships

The genus includes two named species (newly described below) as well as one unnamed species from Inginiyagala (7 ° 139N, 81 ° 329E), Badulla District (one male), and from Rattota (7 ° 319N, 80 ° 419E), Matale District (one male) (3634– 35 in MZT). The latter species is not described because the female remains unknown. Wanniyala is clearly a representative of pholcines sensu Huber (2000). Within this subfamily, relationships remain largely obscure. This is mainly due to the fact that the large genus Pholcus and some potential relatives have never been revised.

Figures

Figure 6. Wanniyala agrabopath. (a, b) Left male palp, prolateral and retrolateral views; (c) male prosoma and chelicerae, dorsal view; (d) tip of male cheliceral apophysis; (e) male chelicerae, frontal view. b, genital bulb; ba, bulbal apophysis; e, embolus. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (a–c); 50 Mm (d); 0.2 mm (e).

Figure 7. (a–d) Wanniyala agrabopath; (e–h) W. hakgala. (a, b, e, f) Left procursus, prolateral and retrolateral views; (c, g) cleared epigyna, ventral views; (d, h) cleared epigyna, dorsal views. ds, dorsal sclerite; pp, proximal projection; t1–3, transparent projections. Scale bars: 0.3 mm (a, b, e, f: all to same scale).

Figure 8. Wanniyala hakgala. (a) Male gonopore with four epiandrous spigots; (b, c) female and male anterior lateral spinnerets with widened and pointed spigots; (d) female abdomen, ventral view. Scale bars: 20 Mm (a–c); 0.5 mm (d).

Figure 9. Known geographic distributions of Pholcus ceylonicus, Wanniyala agrabopath, W. hakgala, and an undescribed species of Wanniyala.