Nesticella inthanoni ( Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 )

Ballarin, Francesco, Koponen, Seppo & Blick, Theo, 2024, Nesticella inthanoni (Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980) is the correct name for the spider Nesticella mollicula (Thorell, 1898) (Araneae, Nesticidae), Zootaxa 5405 (3), pp. 447-450 : 449

Nesticella inthanoni ( Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980)

Figs. 1–7

Erigone mollicula Thorell, 1898: p. 318 (description ♂ ♀).

E. mollicula Roewer, 1955: p. 1499 (nomen dubium).

Howaia inthanoni Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980: p. 55 , f. 13 (description ♀).

Nesticella mollicula Tanasevitch, 2010: p. 107 (transferred from Erigone , revalidated).

N. mollicula Lin, Ballarin & Li, 2016: p. 49 .

Material examined. THAILAND: 1♀ (holotype of Howaia inthanoni ), Lampang Province, Doi Inthanon National Park, (~ 18°35’N, 98°29’E), cloud forest at 2000 m, in pitfall traps, 15. Nov.–27. Dec. 1976, P.T. Lehtinen & R. Laine leg. ( ZMUT: AA 8.500 ); MYANMAR: 1♀ (lectotype of Nesticella mollicula = Erigone mollicula ) Karen hills (~ 18°49’N, 97°2’E), (original label: Burma, Mt. Carin , Asciuii Chebà , Fig. 4 ), 1886-1887 (month and day unknown), L. Fea leg. ( NHMG).

Diagnosis. Females of Nesticella inthanoni can be distinguished from females of other congeners of the brevipes - group by the following combination of characters: scapus short and wide (vs. usually longer and/or narrower in other congeners, e.g. in N. brevipes (Yaginuma, 1970) , N. nandanensi Lin, Ballarin & Li, 2016 , or N. qiaoqiensis Lin, Ballarin & Li, 2016 ), copulatory ducts comma-like, long and curved, (vs. usually straighter or with a different shape in other congeners, e.g. in N. terrestris (Yaginuma, 1970) , N. songi Lin, Ballarin & Li, 2016 , or N. odonta Lin, Ballarin & Li, 2016 ); spermathecae approximately as wide as the copulatory ducts (vs. wider than copulatory ducts in some other congeners, e.g. in N. jingpo Lin, Ballarin & Li, 2016 ) (see Figs. 3, 5, 7 vs. figs. 18E, 23F, 25F, 26F, 34F in Lin et al. 2016 and figs. 5E e 6E in Ballarin & Eguchi 2023). Diagnosis of the male is unavailable due to a lack of information on its diagnostic morphological characters, see also the remarks.

Description. See Thorell (1898) and Lehtinen and Saaritsto (1980: 55) for a complete description. Epigyne as in Figs. 3, 5, 7 . Habitus as in Figs. 1, 2, 6 . Scapus short and wide, laterally elongated, ~ 4–5 times wider than long, ending with slightly curved posterior margin. Copulatory opening at the inner-lateral sides of scapus. Internal ducts visible through transparent tegument, long and curved, comma-like, headed laterally. Spermathecae small and rounded, ~ as wide as copulatory ducts, separated from each other by ~ 2.5 their diameter.

Remarks. Thorell (1898) described the new species based on three individuals, one male and two females. No drawings were provided by the author. The two original female syntypes are preserved in the Natural History Museum of Genoa, Italy, one designed as lectotype by Tanasevitch (2010) ( Figs. 1–4 ). The male syntype is absent in the collections and it is probably lost (Maria Tavano, in litteris). Nesticella inthanoni was described by Lehtinen and Saaristo (1980) based on a single female currently preserved in the Zoological Museum of the University of Turku, Finland ( Figs. 5–7 ). At present, no known individuals or illustrations of the male of N. inthanoni exist. The original description of the male by Thorell (1898, in Latin) does not allow a proper comparison with other congeners.

Distribution. Known only from 2 localities: the Karen Hills in Myanmar and the Doi Inthanon National Park in Thailand.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Types of Nesticella mollicula and N. inthanoni. 1, Lectotype of Nesticella mollicula, habitus, dorsal view. 2, ditto, ventral view. 3, ditto, epigyne, ventral view. 4, ditto, original label. 5, epigyne of N. inthanoni (after Lehtinen & Saaristo 1980). 6, holotype of N. inthanoni, habitus, dorsal view. 7, ditto, epigyne, ventral view.Abbreviations: Co, copulatory opening; S, spermatheca; Sc, scapus. Photos: 1–4 A. Tanasevitch; 6, 7: K. Kaunisto.