Belisana cucphuong 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 cucphuong

description: Belisana cucphuong sp. nov.
Figs 3–4, 13C–D, 14C–D, 15B
Type material. Holotype: Male (IZCAS Ar41904), Cuc Phuong National Park (20°20’58.32”N, 105°35’36.00”E, elevation 437 m), Ninh Binh, Vietnam, 20 August 2015, D.S. Pham leg. Paratypes: 2 females (IZCAS Ar41905– 41906), same data as holotype.
Etymology. The specific name refers to the type locality and is a noun in apposition.
Diagnosis. This species resembles B. vietnamensis Yao, Pham & Li, 2015 (see Yao et al. 2015: 10, figs 29–31) with the elongated bulbal apophyses (Fig. 4D) and the male chelicerae (Figs. 4C, 15B), but males can be distinguished by the long distal spine, 7 times as long as wide (arrow 2 in Figs 3C, 13C, 4 times in B. vietnamensis), on the procursus, and by the presence of a long ventral apophysis on the palpal trochanter (arrow 1 in Fig. 3B) and distinct ventral apophysis on palpal femur (arrow 3 in Fig. 3B). Females can be distinguished by the vulval pore plates (arrow pp in Figs 4B, 14D) being longer than wide (vulval pore plates approximately as wide as long in B. vietnamensis).
Description. Male (holotype, IZCAS Ar41904): Total length 2.22 (2.35 with clypeus), carapace 0.94 long, 0.78 wide, opisthosoma 1.41 long, 0.78 wide. Leg I: – (5.70 + 0.38 + 5.77 + – + –), leg II: 13.00 (3.97 + 0.32 + 3.33 + 4.10 + 1.28), leg III: 8.28 (2.50 + 0.26 + 1.99 + 2.82 + 0.71), leg IV: 14.15 (6.03 + 0.30 + 2.88 + 3.85 + 1.09); tibia I L/d: 38. Distance PME-PME 0.09, diameter PME 0.09, distance PME-ALE 0.09, AME absent. Habitus as in Figs 4E–F. Carapace pale, with brown lateral margins. Ocular area not elevated. Clypeus unmodified. Chelicerae (Figs. 4C, 15B) with pair of small proximo-lateral apophyses and pair of short distal apophyses, each with sclerotized and pointed tip (distance between tips of distal apophyses: 0.04). Sternum pale, approximately as wide as long (0.50). Thoracic furrow absent. Legs pale. Opisthosoma pale, with large, dark spots. Palps as in Figs 3A–B; coxa unmodified; trochanter with long ventral apophysis (arrow 1 in Fig. 3B); femur with small proximo-dorsal apophysis (arrow 2 in Fig. 3B) and distinct ventral apophysis (arrow 3 in Fig. 3B); procursus (Figs 3A–D, 13C–D) simple proximally but complex distally, with large subdisto-prolateral sclerite (arrow 1 in Figs 3C, 13C), curved distal spine (arrow 2 in Figs 3C, 13C) and subdisto-retrolateral membranous process (arrow in Figs 3D, 13D); bulb (Fig. 4D) with hooked apophysis and simple embolus. Retrolateral trichobothria of tibia Iat 5% proximally; without spines or curved setae.
Female (IZCAS Ar41906): Similar to male, habitus as in Figs 4G–H. Total length 1.90 (2.00 with clypeus), carapace 0.72 long, 0.66 wide, opisthosoma 1.28 long, 0.66 wide. Tibia I: 4.04; tibia I L/d: 51. Distance PME-PME 0.13, diameter PME 0.06, distance PME-ALE 0.09, AME absent. Sternum slightly wider than long (0.50/0.40). Opisthosoma with indistinct dark spots. External female genitalia (Figs 4A, 14C) simple and flat, with pair of frontal “epigynal” pockets on sclerotized plate (arrow ep in Figs 4A–B, 14C–D), 0.03 apart. Vulva (Figs 4B, 14D) with wavy anterior arch (median ridge strongly protruding, arrow in Figs 4B, 14D) and pair of nearly elliptical pore plates (arrow pp in Figs 4B, 14D), without serrated sclerites.
Variation: Tibia Iin another female (IZCAS Ar39905): 3.99.
Natural history. The species was found on domed webs attached to the underside of leaves.
Distribution. Vietnam (Ninh Binh, 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 pages 119-122, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4963.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4719924