Mallinella microcera Dankittipakul & Jocqué & Singtripop 2012, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Dankittipakul, Pakawin
name: Jocqué, Rudy
name: Singtripop, Tippawan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Zodariidae
Mallinella
Mallinella microcera

description: Mallinella microcera sp. nov.   
(Figs 160, 198–201)  
 Material examined. Holotype: ♂,  VIETNAM, Ha Nam Ninh Province:  Phuong Reserve, 8 March 1989, leg. P. Beron (RMHN, 18Z).   
 Diagnosis. Mallinella microcera sp. nov. can be easily distinguished by the shape of the small, second RTA (Fig. 199) and by the embolus which is bifurcated (Fig. 198). This new species is most closely related to M. vietnamensis Ono, 2003. Both species from Vietnam share a similar palpal morphology and a very similar general appearance (e.g., a small, triangular second RTA, a terminally bifid TA) but can be distinguished by the filiform embolus.   
 Etymology. The specific epithet is a latinized combination of the Greek words (µƖκρος = small, little; κƐρας = horn, antler), and refers to the smallest second RTA found among males of this species group (Fig. 199). Noun in apposition.   
 Description. Male  (holotype). Total length 5.56; prosoma 2.74 long, 2.24 wide; opisthosoma 2.82 long, 2.07 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.13, ALE 0.14, PME 0.15, PLE 0.14, AME–AME 0.14, AME–ALE 0.23, PME–PME 0.18, PME–PLE 0.33; MOQ: 0.48 long, 0.38 anterior width, 0.44 posterior width. Leg measurements: I 7.56 (2.07, 2.32, 1.66, 1.49), II 7.39 (1.91, 2.32, 1.82, 1.32), III 7.31 (1.99, 2.24, 1.91, 1.16), IV 8.90 (2.07, 2.91, 2.74, 1.18).   
 Coloration (Fig. 160). Carapace orange-brown, slightly darker anteriorly. Coxae whitish, other segments yellowish, proximal parts of femora and tibiae slightly darker. Dorsum of opisthosoma sepia, mottled with minute pale spots. Dorsal pattern: first and second pairs represented by paired reniform patches; third and fourth pairs by two oval patches; fifth pair by transverse, median bands. Dorsal scutum yellowish brown.   
 Palp (Figs 198–201). RTA digitiform, lateral margins parallel, apex bluntly pointed. Second RTA short, triangular, terminally sharply pointed. TA narrowed in ventral view; apico-prolateral process sharply pointed; apical process short and blunt, directed anteriad; apico-prolateral fold triangular, short, sharply pointed; basal tooth triangular. Embolus originating at 270°, with broad base, branching at half its length; mesal ramus slender, curved anteriorly, with acicular marginal flange; lateral ramus broad, sigmoid-shaped, curving anteriorly.   
 Female. Unknown.   
 Natural history. The holotype was collected by sifting soil and decomposing organic debris in an evergreen forest.   
 Distribution. Known only from the type locality in southern Vietnam.
description: Published as part of Dankittipakul, Pakawin, Jocqué, Rudy & Singtripop, Tippawan, 2012, Systematics and biogeography of the spider genus Mallinella Strand, 1906, with descriptions of new species and new genera from Southeast Asia (Araneae, Zodariidae) 3369, pp. 1-327 in Zootaxa 3369 (1) on pages 51-52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3369.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5252563