Plebs astridae Joseph & Framenau, 2012

Joseph, Mathew M. & Framenau, Volker W., 2012, Systematic review of a new orb-weaving spider genus (Araneae: Araneidae), with special reference to the Australasian-Pacific and South-East Asian fauna, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (2), pp. 279-341 : 331-332

PLEBS ASTRIDAE ( STRAND, 1917) COMB. NOV.

Aranea sagana Bösenberg & Strand, 1906: 233 , plate 11, fig. 212 (preoccupied by Epeira sagana Keyserling, 1893 ).

Aranea astridae Strand, 1917: 71 (replacement name for Aranea sagana Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 ); Bonnet 1955: 780.

Araneus astridae – Roewer, 1942: 440.

Zilla sagana – Yaginuma, 1955: 22, plate II, figs 1–7.

Araneus astridae – Yaginuma, 1956: 26.

Zilla astridae – Yaginuma 1960: 58, figs 56.6–8; Chikuni, 1989: 74, fig. 37; Chen & Zhang, 1991: 104– 105, figs. 97.1–5; Song et al., 1999: 310, figs 184J–K; Yin et al., 1997: 397–398, figs 287a–d.

Eriophora migra Zhu & Song, 1994 (in Zhu et al., 1994: 40, figs 15A–D; Yin et al., 1997: 289–290, figs 198a–d; Song et al., 1999: 280, figs 165M, 166B, G. syn. nov. in Tanikawa (2000).

Eriophora sagana – Tanikawa, 2000: 22–23, figs 4–6, 11–14; Namkung, 2002: 305, fig. 19.66a–c; Namkung, 2003: 307, fig. 19.66a–c.

Eriophora astridae – Zhang et al., 2006: 2–3, fig. 1A–F; Tanikawa, 2007: 65, figs 136–139, 561–563; Tanikawa, 2009: 441, figs 141–143.

Types: Holotype of Aranea sagana Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 . ♀ from Saga Prefecture ( Japan), Yunohama Mountains near Saga, 1883, W. Dönitz (SMF 3382-117). Not examined (data from http:// www.sesam.senckenberg.de, accessed 11.i.2011). Not examined. Holotype of Eriophora migra Zhu & Song, 1994 . ♂ from Badong County ( China) (as listed in Tanikawa, 2000).

Material examined: Two males and six females in five records (Appendix S1).

Remarks: Plebs astridae is a well-recognized and widely distributed Asian species and has been illustrated in numerous publications ( Platnick, 2012). The species was initially described as Aranea sagana by Bösenberg & Strand in 1906 but later Strand (1917) provided the replacement name Aranea astridae recognizing that Epeira sagana was preoccupied by Epeira sagana Keyserling, 1893 (listed as Araneus saganus by Petrunkevitch, 1911). Tanikawa (2000) treated the species under its original specific name and transferred it to Eriophora but this was not followed by later authors, who listed the species under its replacement name ( Tanikawa, 2007; Tanikawa, 2009; Zhang et al., 2006). Based on our examination of exemplar specimens and their inclusion into our phylogenetic analysis ( Fig. 3 ), this species is transferred herein to the genus Plebs .

Distribution: China, Taiwan ( Song et al., 1999; Zhang et al., 2006), Korea ( Namkung et al., 2009), Japan ( Tanikawa, 2000).

Figures

Figure 3. Phylogenetic hypothesis for Plebs within a taxon sampling of Australian ‘eriophorine’ orb-weaving spiders (Araneidae) (length = 114, consistency index = 0.38, retention index = 0.72). Full circles indicate unambiguous synapomorphies and open circles homoplasious character state changes. Character numbers (above circles) and states (below circles) as in Table 1. The topology only shows unambiguous character state changes. Bremer support values are given in circles below branches.