Mimetus guiyang J. S. Zhang, Yu & Xu 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zhang, Jianshuang
name: Zhang, Haoshen
name: Liu, Jinxin
name: Yu, Hao
name: Xu, Xiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Mimetidae
Mimetus
Mimetus guiyang

description: Mimetus guiyang J. S. Zhang, Yu & Xu sp. nov.
Figs 2 A, 6, 14 B, 15
Type material.
Holotype • ♀ (MGNU -2017-MIMG 001), China: Guizhou Pro.: Guiyang City, Dongfeng Town, 26.64°N, 106.79°E, c. 736 m, pitfall traps, 16 VI 2017 – 17 VII 2017, H. Yu et al. leg. Paratype • 1 ♀ (MGNU -2017-MIMG 002), same data as holotype.
Etymology.
The specific epithet is derived from the name of the type locality; noun in apposition.
Diagnosis.
The female of M. guiyang sp. nov. can be distinguished from those of all congeners with the exception of M. lingbaoshanensis by having a short and narrow scape (Sc) (scape tip not reaching the posterior margin of the basal plate (Bp), and scape narrower than 1 / 5 of basal plate width in both species, as in Fig. 6 A, C and Gan et al. 2019: 5, figs 3 F, 4 C, vs. scape tip overpassing the posterior margin of basal plate, such as M. echinatus and M. yinae, or scape tip no less than 1 / 5 of basal plate width, such as M. juhuaensis and M. labiatus, as in Wang 1990: fig. IV. 1, Zeng et al. 2016: figs 3 B, 4 B, Gan et al. 2019: figs 5 C, 6 F, and Liu et al. 2021 b: figs 4, 6 A). The new species can be differentiated by the scape nearly finger-like, proximally not forked (Figs 6 A, C) (vs. subtriangular or V-shaped, proximally forked in M. lingbaoshanensis; Gan et al. 2019: 5, figs 3 F, 4 C); and the posterior margin of basal plate’s smoothness (Fig. 6 A – D) (vs. medially slightly prominent in M. lingbaoshanensis; Gan et al. 2019: 5, figs 3 F, G, 4 C, D).
Description.
Female (holotype, MGNU -2017- MIMG 001). Measurements. Total length 4.65. Carapace 2.29 long, 1.58 wide. Abdomen 2.36 long, 1.87 wide. Sternum 1.02 long and 0.73 wide. Labium wider than long. Clypeus height 0.26. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.13, ALE 0.12, PME 0.13, PLE 0.12, AME – AME 0.11, ALE – AME 0.16, PME – PME 0.08, PME – PLE 0.23. MOA 0.36 long, anterior width 0.37, posterior width 0.33. Leg measurements: I 11.97 (3.57, 4.17, 2.96, 1.27), II 9.06 (2.79, 3.12, 2.15, 1.00), III 5.49 (1.79, 1.80, 1.14, 0.76), IV 6.86 (2.22, 2.38, 1.51, 0.75).
Habitus (Figs 6 E – G, 14 B). Carapace nearly pyriform, uniformly yellowish white except cephalic region with a distinctive fan-shaped pattern starting from behind PER and almost reaching fovea; fovea nearly invisible; pars cephalica slightly narrowed, cervical groove and radial grooves indistinct; tegument smooth, clothed with short, sparse setae along the margins of cephalic pattern. Sternum yellowish, shaped like a shield. Labium band-shaped, light reddish brown. Endites anteriorly white, posteriorly colored as that of labium. Chelicerae dark, promargin with 11 peg teeth, retromargin with only one normal tooth. Leg yellowish white, with countless grey spots in the distal parts of femur and conspicuous dark brown annuli in the proximal parts of femur and tibia. Abdomen oval, yellowish white, dorsally covered by several relatively large black patches and small whitish spots; dorsum also with many binate hair bases, all hair bases ossified, among them ca. six or seven pairs relatively large and bubble-shaped, located medially; venter basically light brown, with numerous irregular, silver spots of varying sizes, centrally with a black longitudinal stripe, laterally with a black oblique stripe on each side, posteriorly with a pair of arc-shaped stripes forming a bracket-like pattern.
Epigyne (Fig. 6 A – D). Plate nearly as wide as long, through which large spermathecae (Sp) are clearly visible. Hood (H) hemispherical, distinctly large, as wide as epigyne. Basal plate (Bp) large, ca. 1.9 × wider than its high, nearly trapezoidal, with slightly curved posterior and lateral margins, its anterior part hidden by the hood, and its middle part partly covered by the scape. Scape (Sc) finger-like, approximately 2 / 5 of epigyne length, originating near anterior margin of hood, with its apex distinctly beyond the posterior margin of hood but not reaching the posterior margin of the basal plate. Copulatory openings (CO) indistinct, hidden by the hood. Copulatory ducts (CD) short and barely visible. Spermathecae (Sp) situated anteriorly, egg-shaped, relatively large, ca. 1.2 × longer than wide, surface slightly wrinkled; two spermathecae closely spaced. Fertilization ducts (FD), membranous and curved, located on dorsal-basal surface of spermathecae.
Male. Unknown.
Natural history.
The types were collected in a pitfall trap set in a masson pine plantation, but the specific biology of M. guiyang sp. nov. is not currently clear.
Distribution.
Known only from the type locality (Table 1; Figs 2 A, 15).
description: Published as part of Zhang, Jianshuang, Zhang, Haoshen, Liu, Jinxin, Yu, Hao & Xu, Xiang, 2025, A survey of mimetid spiders (Araneae, Mimetidae) from Central Guizhou Province, China, pp. 711-734 in Zoosystematics and Evolution 101 (2) on pages 711-734, DOI: 10.3897/zse.101.146895