Platythomisus octomaculatus (C. L. Koch, 1845)

Yadav, Swara, Patil, Vinayak & Ismavel, Vijay Anand, 2017, Report of Platythomisusoctomaculatus (C. L. Koch, 1845) and Platythomisussudeepi Biswas, 1977 from India (Araneae, Thomisidae), Biodiversity Data Journal 5, pp. 10294-10294 : 10294

Platythomisus octomaculatus (C. L. Koch, 1845)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Antina Pasyad; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Platythomisusoctomaculatus (C. L. Koch, 1845); kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Arachnida; family: Thomisidae; genus: Platythomisus; taxonRank: species; taxonomicStatus: accepted; Location: locationID: Makunda Christian Hospital Campus; continent: Asia; country: India; countryCode: IN; stateProvince: Assam; verbatimLocality: Makunda Christian Hospital Campus, Karimganj District; verbatimCoordinateSystem: decimal degrees; decimalLatitude: 24.433; decimalLongitude: 92.326; Identification: identifiedBy: Siddharth Kulkarni; Event: year: 2016; month: 4; day: 19; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; institutionID: BNHS; collectionID: Sp; collectionCode: Arachnida; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Rejoice Gassah; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Platythomisusoctomaculatus (C. L. Koch, 1845); kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Arachnida; family: Thomisidae; genus: Platythomisus; taxonRank: species; taxonomicStatus: accepted; Location: locationID: Makunda Christian Hospital Campus; continent: Asia; country: India; countryCode: IN; stateProvince: Assam; verbatimLocality: Makunda Christian Hospital Campus, Karimganj District; verbatimCoordinateSystem: decimal degrees; decimalLatitude: 24.433; decimalLongitude: 92.326; Identification: identifiedBy: Siddharth Kulkarni; Event: year: 2016; month: 6; day: 30; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; institutionID: BNHS; collectionID: Sp; collectionCode: Arachnida; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Total length- 10.7 (14.2) mm; Carapace width- 4.9 (5.2) mm; Ophisthosoma widest- 5.1 (5.9) mm; Leg I- 19.8 mm; Leg II- 21 mm; Leg III- 11.3 mm; Leg IV- 12.5 mm.

Medium sized-spider. Carapace pale orange with two large and one small paired black spots dorsally; larger spots on ocular region and near fovea, smaller spots on lateral sides along mid-length of carapace. Chelicerae base, fangs, palpal patella to claws, black. Legs yellow (become paler in ethanol), tibia to tarsus I, II and metatarsus, tarsus III, IV black. Abdomen yellow with three pairs of large spots arched by a large spot anteriorly (Fig. 1a); ventrally black patch narrowed near spinnerets, laterally yellow; spinnerets black (Fig. 1b).

Cephalothorax without hair, slightly convex dorsally, abdomen dorso-ventrally flat. Carapace narrow anteriorly, wider posteriorly, surface covered with inconspicuous tubercles. Sternum sub-triangular, maxillae, labium oval, rebordered. Legs slender, II>I>IV>III. Abdomen grossly oval, anteriorly truncate, posteriorly narrow and wrinkled along margins.

Spermathecae kidney-shaped, sclerotized, with folds, narrow at base, closer to each other at apex (Fig. 1c); ventrally, epigyne with weakly sclerotized margins of round hood, open at spermathecae second half-length (Fig. 1d).

Remarks

Koch (1845) most likely named the species as ' octomaculatus ' for the eight apparent abdominal spots as shown in his illustration. Doleschall (1859) described his specimen of P. octomaculatus had seven round black spots on the dorsum of which the first one is unpaired. Hasselt (1882) mentioned that his specimens match with that of Doleschall’s with the seven spots on abdomen; as also seen in our specimens. Eight spots are present in the sub-adult female of P. octomaculatus , of which the first pair of spots is merged in the adults as observed in Singaporean specimens (pers comm. David Court, Singapore). It was also observed that the size of these seven spots was variable before and after egg laying (Fig. 2). The young ones emerging from the egg case of P. octomaculatus (Fig. 3a) have only two abdominal spots at early stages (Fig. 3b). In the specimens from Java and Fort de Kock, Sumatra (deposited at the NHMW), Singapore and India, the position of spots on carapace and abdomen seems to be constant, however their size is variable.

Distribution

Known from localities in Java, Sumatra and India (see map, see Introduction).