Belisana jaegeri Zhu & Li 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zhu, Wenhui
name: Li, Shuqiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Belisana
Belisana jaegeri

description: Belisana jaegeri sp. nov.
Figs 5– 6, 13E–F, 14E–F, 15C
Type material. Holotype: Male (SMF), secondary forest (3°43’06.30”N, 101°45’09.86”E, elevation 1300 m), Telecom loop, Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, Malay Peninsula, Malaysia, 16 February 2015, P. Jäger & T. Laufs leg. Paratype: 1 female (SMF), same data as holotype.
Etymology. The specific name is a patronym in honor of the collector Peter Jäger; noun (name) in genitive case.
Diagnosis. This species resembles B. fraser Huber, 2005 (see Huber 2005: 51, figs 69, 320–324) and B. xiaolongha Zhu & Li, 2021 (see Zhu & Li 2021: 561, figs 3– 4, 5E –F) with the elongated bulbal apophyses (Fig. 6D), but males can be distinguished by brown marks on the clypeus (Fig. 6I). They also can be distinguished from B. fraser by having the cheliceral distal apophyses directed laterally (arrow da in Figs. 6C, 15C; distal apophyses directed anteriorly in B. fraser), and females can be distinguished by having frontal “epigynal” pockets laterally on the sclerotized plate (arrow ep in Figs 6A–B, 14E–F) and curved vulval pore plates (arrow pp in Figs 6B, 14F). Females differ from B. xiaolongha by the semicircular flap and by a distal spine seen in retrolateral view of the procursus (Figs 5B, 5D, 13F; narrow flap in B. xiaolongha).
Description. Male (holotype): Total length 2.03 (2.19 with clypeus), carapace 0.88 long, 0.78 wide, opisthosoma 1.31 long, 0.88 wide. Leg I missing, leg II: 14.71 (3.85 + 0.40 + 3.53 + 5.58 + 1.35), leg III: 9.02 (2.56 + 0.30 + 2.12 + 3.21 + 0.83), leg IV: 12.53 (3.53 + 0.34 + 3.21 + 4.49 + 0.96). Distance PME-PME 0.11, diameter PME 0.06, distance PME-ALE 0.09, AME absent. Habitus as in Figs 6E–F. Carapace pale, with brown lateral margins. Ocular area not elevated. Clypeus (Fig. 6I) with brown marks, unmodified. Chelicerae (Figs. 6C, 15C) with pair of small proximo-lateral apophyses and pair of long, curved distal apophyses, each with sclerotized and pointed tip (distance between tips of distal apophyses: 0.62). Sternum pale, slightly wider than long (0.63/0.56). Thoracic furrow absent. Legs pale, but dark brown on femur, patellae and tibia-metatarsus joints, without darker rings. Opisthosoma pale, without spots. Palps as in Figs 5A–B; coxa unmodified; trochanter with short retrolatero-ventral apophysis; femur with small ventral hump (arrow 1 in Fig. 5B) and small proximo-dorsal apophysis (arrow 2 in Fig. 5B); procursus (Figs 5A–D, 13E–F) simple proximally but complex distally, with curved subdisto-dorsal sclerite (arrow 1 in Figs 5C, 13E), long disto-prolateral spine (arrow 2 in Figs 5C, 13E), long subdisto-prolateral sclerite (arrow 3 in Figs 5C, 13E), disto-retrolateral membranous lamella (arrow in Figs 5D, 13F) and semicircular retrolateral membranous flap (arrow f in Figs 5D, 13F); bulb (Fig. 6D) with hooked apophysis and simple embolus. Legs with short vertical setae on metatarsi, without spines and curved setae.
Female: Similar to male, habitus as in Figs 6G–H. Total length 2.22 (2.31 with clypeus), carapace 0.84 long, 0.88 wide, opisthosoma 1.47 long, 0.91 wide. Tibia I: 4.17; tibia I L/d: 42. Distance PME-PME 0.16, diameter PME 0.09, distance PME-ALE 0.09, AME absent. Sternum slightly wider than long (0.59/0.50). Clypeus pale, without marks. External female genitalia (Figs 6A, 14E) simple and flat, with pair of frontal “epigynal” pockets (arrow ep in Figs 6A–B, 14E–F), 0.54 apart. Vulva (Figs 6B, 14F) with pointed anterior arch and pair of large, curved and oval pore plates (arrow pp in Figs 6B, 14F), without serrated sclerites.
Natural history. The species was found in secondary forest, on embankments along the road at night and collected by hand.
Distribution. Malaysia (Malay Peninsula, type locality only; Fig. 16).
description: Published as part of Zhu, Wenhui & Li, Shuqiang, 2021, Six new species of the spider genus Belisana (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Southeast Asia, pp. 115-137 in Zootaxa 4963 (1) on page 122, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4963.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4719924