Castianeira zetes Simon 1897
Creators: name: Sankaran, Pradeep M.
name: Malamel, Jobi J.
name: Joseph, Mathew M.
name: Sebastian, Pothalil A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Corinnidae
Castianeira
Castianeira zetes

description: Castianeira zetes Simon, 1897
Castaneira zetes Simon, 1897: 294 (♀); Gravely, 1931: 273, fig. 20A–B (♂ ♀).
Castianeira zetes Roewer, 1955: 611; Tikader & Biswas, 1981: 73, plate X, figs 129–130 (♀); Tikader, 1981: 258, figs 1–4 (♂ ♀); Majumder & Tikader, 1991: 132, figs 264–269 (♂ ♀); Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 2000: 132, figs 1–7 (♀, not ♂, male misidentified); Sebastian & Peter, 2009: 176, plate 47 (♀); Sen et al., 2015: 72, figs 399–403, plate XVIII (♂ ♀); Dhali et al., 2017: 55, figs 214–218, plate XX (♂ ♀).
Type material. Holotype ♀ from PAKISTAN: Karachi (Kurrachee), 25°04'12.15''N, 67°17'05.24''E, 131 m. a.s.l., leg. M.M. Maindron, 1896, repository MNHN with voucher number 14567, examined based on photographs (Fig. 1A–D).
Other material examined. INDIA: Kerala: Palakkad, Thrippalur, Pullodu (10°38'16.58''N, 76°33'52.87''E), 70 m. a.s.l., 13 May 2017 and 6 November 2017, leg. M.S. Pradeep, from ground, by hand, 1♂ 3 ♀ (ADSH 11126).
Diagnosis. Both males and females of C. zetes closely similar to those of Castianeira arnoldii Charitonov, 1946, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following combination of characters: abdomen of males with conspicuous medio-lateral constriction (less evident in C. arnoldii), long embolus (moderately long in C. arnoldii), embolus wavy near tip (straight in C. arnoldii), copulatory ducts with stronger distal loop near spermathecal head (less prominent in C. arnoldii), and the spermathecal head smaller than in C. arnoldii (cf. Figs 1E, 2A–E and figs 1–12 in Marusik & Mikhailov 2010).
Redescription. Male (ADSH 11126, Fig. 1E) in alcohol. Carapace, spinnerets, legs III and IV black. Carapace with uniform covering of appressed white hairs. Chelicerae, fangs, maxillae, labium, sternum brownish-black. Sternum papillate. Opisthosoma elongate-oval, mid antero-laterally constricted, black with three white transverse bands, 1 st anterior, 2nd nearly middle, 3rd posterior, with pair of white irregular patches lying anterior to median band (Fig. 1E). Dorsal scutum entire, papillate. Venter medially depressed; ventral scutum squarish, blackish-brown. Legs I and II strawcoloured with black mottling, III and IV with white patches and stripes; tarsi weakly scopulate. Body length 4.99. Carapace 2.31 long, 1.37 wide. Opisthosoma 2.68 long, 1.09 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.06, AME 0.10, PLE 0.06, PME 0.08, ALE–PLE 0.05, AME–ALE 0.03, AME–AME 0.06, PME–PLE 0.05, PME–PME 0.12. Clypeus height at AME 0.13, at ALE 0.12. Length of chelicerae 0.43. Pedipalp and leg lengths: Pedipalp 2.12 [0.59, 0.25, 0.23, 1.05], I 4.92 [1.28, 0.44, 1.21, 1.14, 0.85], II 4.48 [1.23, 0.41, 1.04, 0.99, 0.81], III 4.34 [1.17, 0.47, 0.93, 1.10, 0.67], IV 6.58 [1.75, 0.58, 1.56, 1.88, 0.81]. Leg formula: 4123. Spination of pedipalp: femur pl 2 do 1, patella spineless, tibia pl 2, tarsus/cymbium pl 1 plv 1; legs: femur I pl 2 do 2, II pl 1 do 2, III pl 3 do 2 rl 1, IV pl 3 do 2 rl 1; patellae I–IV spineless; tibia I plv 3 rlv 2, II plv 1 rlv 1, III pl 2 do 1 rl 3 plv 3, IV pl 1 do 1 rl 1 plv 3 rlv 2; metatarsi I–II plv 2 rlv 2, III–IV pl 4 rl 3 plv 2 rlv 3 vt 1; tarsi I–IV spineless. Pedipalp (Fig. 2A–C): Palpal segments black. Bulb with well-marked globose base, moderately long distal tegular neck, with obliquely flat apex (Fig. 2B). Pro- and retrolateral subtegulums nearly equal in size (Fig. 2A, C). Sperm duct thick, prominent (Fig. 2A–C). Embolus, long with one complete turn (Fig. 2C), slightly wavy near tip (Fig. 2B, 2 nd arrow), tip with short, narrow stylus (Fig. 2A, 1 st arrow), directed at 11-o’ clock position in ventral view (Fig. 2B).
Female (ADSH 11126, Fig. 1F) in alcohol. Like male except the following: Opisthosoma oval, lacking paired white patches; median white transverse band short, posterior one lying away from the rear end of opisthosoma. Venter lacks depression and scutum. Body length 5.33. Carapace 2.72 long, 1.65 wide. Opisthosoma 2.61 long, 1.74 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.09, AME 0.12, PLE 0.11, PME 0.10, ALE–PLE 0.08, AME–ALE 0.03, AME–AME 0.07, PME–PLE 0.09, PME–PME 0.11. Clypeus height at AME 0.19, at ALE 0.16. Length of chelicerae 0.74. Palp and leg lengths: Palp 2.64 [0.73, 0.38, 0.50, 1.03], I 6.24 [1.77, 0.69, 1.41, 1.34, 1.03], II 5.93 [1.69, 0.68, 1.28, 1.35, 0.93], III 5.37 [1.56, 0.70, 1.10, 1.30, 0.71], IV 8.12 [2.17, 0.85, 1.89, 2.28, 0.93]. Spination of palp: femur pl 1 do 2 rlv 7, patella pl 1 do 2, tibia pl 1 do 2 plv 1, tarsus pl 2 plv 1 rl 1 rlv 1; legs: femur I pl 2 do 2, II pl 1 do 2, III pl 2 do 2, IV pl 3 do 2 rl 1; patellae I–IV spineless; tibia I plv 3 rlv 2, II plv 1 rlv 2, III pl 2 do 1 rl 2 plv 3 rlv 3, IV pl 2 do 1 rl 2 plv 3 rlv 3; metatarsi I–II plv 2 rlv 2, III pl 2 rl 3 plv 3 rlv 3 vt 1, IV pl 3 rl 3 plv 3 rlv 3 vt 1; tarsi I–IV spineless. Epigynum (Figs 1G, 2D–E). Copulatory openings large, widely placed, obliquely oriented, inverted U-shaped, with dorso-laterally thickened rims (Figs 1G, 2D). Copulatory ducts moderately long, sclerotised, with obliquely oriented sharp S-shaped distal loop (Fig. 2E). Spermathecae large, sac-like, contiguous, leaving moderately long median separation (Figs 1G, 2E). Fertilization ducts tiny, postero-medially placed (Fig. 2E).
Distribution. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan (Simon 1897; World Spider Catalog 2018).
description: Published as part of Sankaran, Pradeep M., Malamel, Jobi J., Joseph, Mathew M. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2018, Redescription of Castianeira zetes Simon, 1897 (Araneae, Corinnidae, Castianeirinae), pp. 487-490 in Zootaxa 4457 (3) on pages 487-490, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4457.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/1457854