Hyllus diardi
Creators: name: Caleb, John T. D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Salticidae
Hyllus
Hyllus diardi

description: Hyllus diardi (Walckenaer, 1837)
Figs 7–12, 25
Attus diardi Walckenaer, 1837: 460 (D ♀).
Hyllus diardi Simon, 1886: 139; Prószyński, 1984: 62 (♀); Żabka, 1985: 229, figs 217–220 (♀); Xiong, Liu & Zhang, 2017: 23, figs 1A–G (♁ ♀); Basumatary et al., 2018: 35, figs 1–5 (♀); Logunov, 2021: 1032, figs 41–44 (♀).
Hyllus maskaranus Barrion & Litsinger, 1995: 65, figs 29a–f (♀); holotype in International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Philippines, examined drawings of the holotype by J. Prószyński (Fig. 12); syn. nov.
Phidippus tirapensis B. K. Biswas & K. Biswas, 2006: 495, figs 4–6 (♀); holotype could not be traced in NZC-ZSI, Kolkata, not examined; syn. nov.
For a complete list of taxonomic references refer the WSC (2022).
Type material. Phidippus tirapensis B. K. Biswas & K. Biswas, 2006: Holotype ♀ (NZC-ZSI 5536 /18) from INDIA, Arunachal Pradesh, Dist. Tirap, Hukanjuri, 36 km from Khonsa (27.1128°N, 95.4536°E), 234 m a.s.l., 14.03.1990, leg. T. K. Pal.
Comparative material: Hyllus diardi, 1♀ (JC) from INDIA, Assam, Karimganj District, Bazaricherra (24.4318°N, 92.3307°E), 51 m a.s.l., May 2016, leg. V. A. Ismavel.
Justification of synonymy of Phidippus tirapensis and Hyllus maskaranus. Phidippus tirapensis Biswas & Biswas, 2006 was described based on a female holotype collected from Hukanjuri, Arunachal Pradesh. The holotype could not be traced in the collections at NZC-ZSI, Kolkata. However, based on the original descriptions and illustrations, the species is large sized (total length 17.5) comparable with 17.28 in Basumatary et al. (2018), with broad cephalothorax and two hair tufts present in the anterior part of cephalothorax (Fig. 9); unidentate chelicerae (see Biswas & Biswas 2006: 495); epigyne with two rounded copulatory openings (Fig. 10), wide lateral posterior pockets; spermathecae wider anteriorly and narrow posteriorly (Fig. 11), all these characters support its placement in the genus Hyllus C.L. Koch, 1846 and matches strikingly with H. diardi (cf. Figs 9–11 with Figs 7, 8, figs 1B–D in Xiong et al. 2017 and figs 1–4 in Basumatary et al. 2018). Based on these observations, it is thus safe to consider the species as a junior synonym of Hyllus diardi.
Hyllus maskaranus Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 was described based on a female holotype collected from Mindanao Island, the Philippines. Based on detailed comparison of the original descriptions, illustrations and further illustration of the female genitalia by Prószyński (2016) (Fig. 12), the species matches unambiguously with Hyllus diardi. The general body colour pattern and the epigyne with two rounded copulatory openings, wide lateral posterior pockets; spermathecae with wide anterior and narrow posterior chambers match with that of H. diardi (cf. Fig. 12 and figs. 29a–f in Barrion & Litsinger 1995 with figs. 217–220 in Żabka 1985 and figs. 1B–D in Xiong et al. 2017). H. maskaranus is thus considered as a junior synonym of H. diardi.
Distribution. India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, China to Indonesia, Philippines (WSC 2022; Barrion & Litsinger 1995: sub Hyllus maskaranus). India: Arunachal Pradesh (Biswas & Biswas 2006: sub Phidippus tirapensis), Assam (Basumatary et al. 2018; present data) (Fig. 25).
description: Published as part of Caleb, John T. D., 2023, Deciphering mysteries: On the identity of five enigmatic jumping spiders from Northeast India, China and Philippines (Araneae, Salticidae), pp. 391-400 in Zootaxa 5230 (3) on pages 394-395, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5230.3.8, http://zenodo.org/record/7561606