Wuliphantes Irfan & Wang & Zhang 2023, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Irfan, Muhammad
name: Wang, Lu-Yu
name: Zhang, Zhi-Sheng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Linyphiidae
Wuliphantes

description: Wuliphantes gen. nov. (五里蛛属)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 7F4144F4-6674-4C3F-B481-4097D6BDB7D6
Type species
Wuliphantes trigyrus gen. et sp. nov.
Diagnosis
Wuliphantes gen. nov. can be diagnosed by the following synapomorphies as: (1) in male palp, distal end of tegulum narrow, extending forward, long with a conspicuous membranous protegulum; (2) distal suprategular apophysis absent; (3) embolic plate with two projections (dorsal and ventral); (4) embolus very long, forming more than one coil (depending on the species, the coil number goes from two to four or even more). Female can be diagnosed by: (1) the scape and parmula absent in epigyne; (2) copulatory ducts transparent, with several tightly coiled coils before entering the spermathecae; (3) spermathecae compact to helical.
Etymology
The genus name is derived from the type locality (Wulipo) and the generic name Bathyphantes. Gender is masculine.
Composition
Wuliphantes guanshan (Irfan, Wang & Zhang, 2022) gen. et comb. nov., W. trigyrus gen. et sp. nov. and W. tongluensis (Chen & Song, 1988) gen. et comb. nov.
Remarks
Bathyphantes can be diagnosed with the following set of synapomorphies proposed by Ivie (1969): in male palp, (1) tegulum with terminal extension of distal suprategular apophysis; (2) embolic plate with relatively large, flat lamella comprise of anterior and dorsal projections; (3) embolus ordinarily stout and coiled at base and becoming slender toward tip. Epigynum consisting of (1) atrium, a large cavity opening posteriorly, with ventral covering below and dorsal wall above; (2) scape, posterior extension of ventral rim of atrium often long and slender, in some cases short and blunt, in others absent, usually with a small pit near distal end; (3) parmula, posterior extension of atrial plate, usually slender, with small pit near distal end; (4) spermathecae, one on each side in anterior part of internal epigynum.
Wuliphantes gen. nov. shares a single character of a simple U- or J-shaped paracymbium with the genera Bathyphantes Menge, 1866, Kaestneria Wiehle, 1956 and Porrhomma Simon, 1884: figs 55b, 61b, 68b (Bosmans 2006: fig. 1; Zhao & Li 2014: figs 5b, 8b, 47b, 49b; Irfan & Peng 2018: figs 3b, 6b; Merrett 1963: fig. 21a–b; Tao et al. 1995: figs 76, 82–83; Ruzicka 2018: fig. 2a). Wuliphantes gen. nov. can be distinguished from the genera Bathyphantes Menge, 1866, Kaestneria Wiehle, 1956 and Porrhomma Simon, 1884 by the embolus very long, forming two to four coils in Wuliphantes gen. nov. (Figs 55A, 58A, 61A), whereas embolus short, probably with half or single coil in Bathyphantes (Bosmans 2006: fig. 1; Zhao & Li, 2014 figs 5b, 8b, Zhao & Li, 2014 figs 47b, 49b), embolus stout, relatively short with pointed end in Kaestneria (Irfan & Peng 2018: figs 3b, 6b; Merrett 1963: fig. 21a–b; Tao et al. 1995: figs 76, 82–83), embolus short, reaching to tip of anterior projection of embolic plate to form half circle in Porrhomma (Ruzicka 2018: figs 2a, 19b); embolic plate with two projections (dorsal and ventral) in Wuliphantes gen. nov. (Figs 55D, 58A, 61D), whereas with two to three projections (anterior, dorsal and ventral) in Bathyphantes (Zhao & Li 2014: figs 5–6, 8), Kaestneria (dorsal) (Irfan & Peng 2018: figs 3b, 6b) and in Porrhomma (anterior, posterior and dorsal) (Ruzicka 2018: fig. 19b); distal end of tegulum long with a conspicuous membranous protegulum in Wuliphantes gen. nov. (Figs 55B, 58B, 61B), whereas distal end of tegulum round, protegulum absent in Bathyphantes (Zhao & Li 2014: figs 5–6, 8). Female can be distinguished by the scape absent in epigyne in Wuliphantes gen. nov. (Figs 56A–B, 59A–B, 62A–B), whereas present in Bathyphantes (Tanasevitch 2011: figs 13, 30–34; 2014: fig. 21), Kaestneria (dorsal) (Irfan & Peng 2018: figs 3b, 4a, 6b; Zhao & Li 2014: figs 47b, 48a, 49b) and with a small protegulum in Porrhomma (Ruzicka 2018: fig. 2a–b), but can be distinguished by the copulatory ducts transparent, with several tightly coiled coils before entering spermathecae in Wuliphantes gen. nov. (Figs 56B–C, 59B–C, 62B–C), whereas without tightened coils in Bathyphantes (Tanasevitch 2011: figs 13, 30–34) except Bathyphantes paracymbialis Tanasevitch, 2014, of which the copulatory ducts form two wide loops (Tanasevitch 2014: fig. 23); spermathecae compact in W. guanshan (Irfan, Wang & Zhang, 2022) gen. et comb. nov. and W. trigyrus gen. et sp. nov. (Figs 56C, 62C) and helical in W. tongluensis gen. et comb. nov. (Fig. 59C).
The diagnostic characters proposed for Wuliphantes gen. nov. (embolus long, forming more than one coil; tegulum with conspicuous protegulum; embolic plate with long ventral projection of lamella in male palp; in the epigyne, scape and parmula absent) are all apomorphic in nature that distinguish this genus from all other genera and also support Wuliphantes gen. nov. to accommodate W. guanshan (Irfan, Wang & Zhang, 2022) gen. et comb. nov., W. trigyrus gen. et sp. nov. and W. tongluensis (Chen & Song, 1988) gen. et comb. nov.
description: Published as part of Irfan, Muhammad, Wang, Lu-Yu & Zhang, Zhi-Sheng, 2023, Survey of Linyphiidae spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Wulipo National Nature Reserve, Chongqing, China, pp. 1-85 in European Journal of Taxonomy 871 on pages 68-69, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.871.2129, http://zenodo.org/record/8007049