Heteropoda cuspidata Korai & Jäger, 2024, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Korai, Shakal Khan
name: Jäger, Peter
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Sparassidae
Heteropoda
Heteropoda cuspidata

description: Heteropoda cuspidata spec. nov.
Figs 5A–E, 6A–C, 11
Type material. Holotype male: MALAYSIA: Sabah State: Interior Division, Mount Trusmadi, 5°15′55″N, 116°16′23″E, 528 m, 7 October 2015, L.Y. Wang & G.Q. Huang leg. (CBEE).
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin adjective, cuspidatus, -a, -um, meaning pointed, referring to the tip of tegular process in ventral view.
Diagnosis. This new species can be distinguished from all other Heteropoda species by the unique combination of a tegular process, conductor arising from 9:30-o’clock-position from tegulum, vRTA broad and flattened, and dRTA narrow medially and widened distally (Jäger 2008: figs 383–384). The male of this new species is most similar to H. boiei Doleschall, 1859 but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: 1. Spermophor slightly S-shaped (straight in H. boiei); 2. Tegular process shorter than tegulum width (longer than tegular width in H. boiei); 3. dRTA three times longer than vRTA (slightly longer than vRTA in H. boiei) (Figs 5A–C, 6A–C).
Description. Male (holotype): Measurement: BL 21.7; PL 11.0, PW 10.5; AW 4.1; OL 10.7, OW 6.0. Eyes: AME 0.48, ALE 0.58, PME 0.44, PLE 0.57, AME–AME 0.26, AME–ALE 0.14, PME–PME 0.38, PME–PLE 0.68, AME–PME 0.56, ALE–PLE 0.64, CH AME 0.30, CH ALE 0.44. Spination: Palp 131, 101, 2121, -; Fe I–III 333, IV 331; Pa I–IV 101; Ti I–II 2126, III 2426; Mt I–III 1014, IV 3036. Measurements of palp and legs: Palp 15.3 (5.0, 2.7, 3.1, -, 4.5); I 62.3 (16.6, 5.3, 17.4, 17.8, 5.0); II 65.4 (17.8, 5.5, 18.7, 19.0, 4.3); III 46.2 (13.4, 4.4, 12.7, 12.5, 3.0); IV 54.9 (15.7, 4.4, 14.2, 16.6, 3.9). Leg formula: II–I–IV–III. Cheliceral furrow with 3 promarginal, 4 retromarginal teeth and ca. 35 denticles.
Palp as in diagnosis. RTA arising subdistally from tibia. Cymbium more than two times longer than tegulum. Tegulum elongated. Conductor arising in a 9:30-o’clock-position from tegulum, in ventral view reaching retrolateral cymbial margin with acuminate tip. Embolus base covered by tegular process in ventral view, embolus arising from tegulum at a 6-o’clock-position, running a flat semi-circle. Tegular process arising from a 7.30- o’clock-position (Figs 5A–C, 6A–C).
Colouration in ethanol. Dorsal shield of prosoma reddish-brown, with fovea marked with distinct longitudinal dark band; striae distinct and broadly marked; eye region and margins darker. Chelicerae dark-reddish brown with light setae. Labium, sternum and gnathocoxae light yellowish- to reddish-brown, with small dark patches. Coxae ventrally with proximal triangular light patches. Opisthosoma dorsally brown, with dark longitudinal patch above heart, and some light lines in posterior half; ventrally reddish-brown, irregularly spotted (Figs 5D–E).
Female: Unknown.
Distribution. Malaysia (Sabah State) (Fig. 11).
description: Published as part of Korai, Shakal Khan & Jäger, Peter, 2024, Five new species of Heteropoda Latreille, 1804 spiders (Araneae: Sparassidae) from Southeast Asia, pp. 241-259 in Zootaxa 5481 (2) on pages 247-250, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5481.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/12749603