Jacaena Thorell
Creators: name: Deeleman-Reinhold, Christa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2001
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Liocranidae
Jacaena

description: Genus <i>Jacaena</i> Thorell <i>Jacaena</i> Thorell, 1897: 230. Type species: <i>J. distincta</i> Thorell, 1897, no figures, &amp;female;. Burma, Tenasserim. This genus was described by Thorell (date of issue 2 january 1897) in the Clubionidae in the subfamily Thamphilinae (=Sphingiinae). This subfamily was composed of the genera <i>Thamphilus</i>, <i>Sphingius</i> and <i>Jacaena. Thamphilus</i> Thorell 1895 was soon synonymised with <i>Sphingius</i> (Simon, 1897, HNAII: 158). Apparently, Simon did not see any specimens of <i>Jacaena,</i> but he did somehow receive Thorell’s data before the first part of HNAII went to press. Consequently, he mentioned the genus only in a footnote (1897, HNA II: 157, date of issue 15 february 1897), where he placed it close to <i>Sphingius.</i> Simon ranged <i>Sphingius</i> erroneously in the Molycriae, a tribe he wrongly believed to belong to the subfamily Micariinae and which originally included <i>Molycria</i> and <i>Myandra.</i> Bonnet 1959, (2[5]:4395) recognised the genus <i>Thamphilus,</i> but subsequent cataloguers Roewer, Brignoli and Platnick followed Simon in synonymising <i>Thamphilus</i> with <i>Sphingius.</i> Today, the Micariinae are mainly defined by the apomorphic iridescent scales on the abdomen, which alienate them from all groups treated here. It is now clear that for <i>Sphingius</i> and <i>Jacaena</i> there is no close relationship at all with either <i>Myandra</i> or <i>Molycria.</i> Simon’s reassessment of the taxonomic position of both these genera was very much beside the mark. The genus <i>Jacaena</i>: “genre....différant surtout des autres (Molycriae) par ses tibias antérieurs armés de deux séries d'épines”. Roewer (1954) followed Simon; Reiskind (1969: 166) moved <i>Sphingius</i> to the Corinninae and moved the bulk of Micariinae as a whole to the Gnaphosidae, and in this latter family <i>Jacaena</i> remains in Platnick 1989, 1991 and 1998. During my stay in Genova 1986 and 1989, I found there was no specimen labelled <i>Jacaena distincta</i> in existence. However there was one female labelled <i>Cadicus distinctus,</i> agreeing fully with the description of <i>J. distincta,</i> including the unusual pattern of the upper- and underside of the abdomen, and which was taken at the same locality Tenasserim: Mooleyit. No species by the generic name of <i>Cadicus</i> has ever been published. I consider this case as an inadvertent omission by Thorell to adjust the name on the label to that in the description and I recognise the specimen as the type of <i>Jacaena. Jacaena distincta</i> is closely related to <i>Sesieutes.</i> The principal distinction between the two is in the extraordinary structure of the vulva, which is shared with <i>J. mihun</i> sp. n. described below. This argument is used here to maintain <i>Jacaena</i> as a valid genus. <i>Described species</i>.— <i>Jacaena distincta</i> Thorell, 1897, &amp;female;, Myanmar (Burma); <i>J.</i> mihun sp. <i>n</i>., &amp;male;&amp;female;, C and N Thailand, this volume. <i>Diagnosis</i>.— <i>Jacaena</i> is similar in most respects to <i>Sesieutes.</i> It is distinct from <i>Sesieutes</i> in the construction of the vulva: this consists of a pair of seemingly non-differentiated, meandering and coiling tubes without distinct spermathecae. In the type species the male is unknown; in <i>Jacaena</i> mihun males, described below, the embolus is transformed into a short broadened rigid appendage. The clypeal lobe is reduced. <i>Old</i> material <i>studied</i>.— <i>Jacaena distincta,</i> 1 &amp;female;, Burma, Tenasserim, MCSNG. <i>Data on Behaviour</i>.— Ground-living. <i>Distribution</i>.— Southeastern Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.
description: Published as part of <i>Deeleman-Reinhold, Christa, 2001, Forest Spiders of South East Asia With a revision of the sac and ground spiders (Araneae: Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Liocranidae, Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae and Trochanteriidae)., pp. 400-505 in Forest Spiders of South East Asia With a revision of the sac and ground spiders- Family Liocranidae, Leiden, Netherlands :Brill Leiden; Boston; Köln</i> on page 465, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.814704