Episinus anfu Liang, Liu, Yin & Xu, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liang, Yun
name: Liu, Jinnan
name: Yin, Haiqiang
name: Xu, Xiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Theridiidae
Episinus
Episinus anfu

description: Episinus anfu sp. nov.
Materials
Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Zongguang Huang, Yun Liang, Rongrong Liao and Yingli Wen; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: CAE1726D-C2FE-59D2-8EEC-BAC49D2919DE; Taxon: scientificName: Episinus anfu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jiangxi; county: Anfu; verbatimLocality: Yangshimu, Yeniugu; verbatimElevation: 563 m; verbatimCoordinates: 27°31'35''N, 114°14'41''E; Event: year: 2022; month: 6; day: 24; Record Level: institutionID: HNU 817
Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Zongguang Huang, Yun Liang, Rongrong Liao and Yingli Wen; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: E93366EA-8022-53FB-9755-61EDA3A84DCA; Taxon: scientificName: Episinus anfu; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jiangxi; county: Anfu; verbatimLocality: Yangshimu, Yeniugu; verbatimElevation: 563 m; verbatimCoordinates: 27°31'35''N, 114°14'41''E; Event: year: 2022; month: 6; day: 24; Record Level: institutionID: HNU 816
Description
Female (Holotype): Total length 5.19, carapace 1.77 long, 1.61 wide, abdomen 3.41 long, 2.65 wide. Eye sizes and inter-distances: AME 0.12, ALE 0.13, PME 0.13, PLE 0.13; AME-AME 0.08, AME-ALE 0.03, PME-PME 0.10, PME-PLE 0.09. Clypeus height 0.28. STL 1.12, STW 0.80. Legs measurements: I 6.98 (2.03, 0.78, 1.57, 1.98, 0.62); II 4.78 (1.48, 0.64, 0.92, 1.15, 0.59); III 3.80 (1.11, 0.54, 0.68, 0.97, 0.50); IV 7.74 (2.31, 0.89, 1.59, 2.23, 0.72). Leg formula IV-I-II-III.
Colouration (Fig. 1 A – C): Carapace pear-shaped, red-brown, fovea and radial furrow deep, brown (Fig. 1 A). Chelicerae light brown, without teeth. Pedipalp brown. Endite longer than wide. Labium extending, nearly rectangle. Sternum longer than wide, lateral margins sinuous and brown. (Fig. 1 B). Legs brown, except for pale trochanters III-IV, femur III and basal half of femur IV. Abdomen brown, dorsum with two white arcuate stripes anteriorly and two pairs of brown spots medially (Fig. 1 A), venter brown, except for reddish posterolateral region, bearing four pairs of brown dots centrally (posterior two pairs more distinct than anterior two pairs) and a slightly arched white line before spinnerets (Fig. 1 B); pentagonal-shaped, with widest part at three quarters of abdominal length (Fig. 1 A) and with short hump on each side as seen in lateral view (Fig. 1 C).
Epigyne (Fig. 1 D and Fig. 2 A): with small and indistinct atria (A) separated by sclerotised median septum. Vulva (Figs. 1 E-F and Fig. 2 B): copulatory ducts (CD) long, sinuous and running laterally along spermathecae. Spermathecae (S) longitudinal parallel to each other, with swollen anterior portions and connecting to CD laterally. Fertilisation ducts (FD) originating from inside sides of spermathecae and converging medially.
Male. Unknown.
Diagnosis
The female of this new species is similar to that of E. nubilus Yaginuma, 1960 in having small atria (compare Fig. 1 D and Fig. 2 A with fig. 27 E in Kim (2021) and fig. 57 B in Zhu and Zhang (2011)), but can be distinguished from the latter by match-head-shaped spermathecae with swollen anterior portions (vs. oval spermathecae with small anterior portions in E. nubilus), long and distinct copulatory ducts which can be seen in ventral view (vs. indistinct copulatory ducts in E. nubilus) (compare Fig. 1 D – F and Fig. 2 with fig. 57 C in Zhu and Zhang (2011)).
Etymology
The specific epithet is derived from the collection locality of the types of new species and is a noun, neutral.
Distribution
Known only from the type locality, China (Jiangxi) (Fig. 9).
description: Published as part of Liang, Yun, Liu, Jinnan, Yin, Haiqiang & Xu, Xiang, 2025, On new spider species of the genus Episinus (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China and proposal of five species groups, pp. e 144222 in Biodiversity Data Journal 13 on page e144222, DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.13.e144222