Falcileptoneta taoqii Yu & Lin 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yu, Hao
name: Xing, Yuanqian
name: Lin, Yejie
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Leptonetidae
Falcileptoneta
Falcileptoneta taoqii

description: Falcileptoneta taoqii Yu & Lin sp. nov.
Materials
Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 8631AECC-8D90-5A9F-8C0C-00FB228905AD; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 1; day: 24; habitat: Cave; Record Level: institutionCode: IZCAS-Ar 45515
Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: DDE0855A-075F-52B1-926E-CF494F9EEFF4; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 1; day: 24; habitat: Cave; Record Level: institutionCode: IZCAS-Ar 45516
Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: DDE0855A-075F-52B1-926E-CF494F9EEFF4; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 1; day: 24; habitat: Cave; Record Level: institutionCode: IZCAS-Ar 45517
Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 71F3DDEB-4035-5085-985C-3B9B3C2EE46C; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 12; day: 7; habitat: Cave
Description
Male (holotype). Total length 2.16. Carapace 0.71 long, 0.86 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.07, PME 0.06, PLE 0.05, ALE – PME 0.08, PLE – PME 0.03, PLE – PLE 0.09, AER 0.12, PER 0.15. Clypeus 0.16 high. Chelicerae with eight promarginal and four retromarginal teeth. Leg measurements: I 6.02 (1.66, 0.25, 1.85, 1.39, 0.87), II 4.48 (1.23, 0.22, 1.33, 0.95, 0.75), III (1.04, 0.21, -, -, -), IV 5.26 (1.46, 0.22, 1.61, 1.20, 0.77). Palp 1.34 (0.59, 0.19, 0.23, 0.33). Opisthosoma 1.20 long, 0.82 wide.
Colouration (Fig. 4 A): Carapace yellowish-brown, without any pattern, cover with separated hair, edge darker; radial furrow obvious, lighter. Fovea longitudinal, reddish-brown. Chelicerae yellowish. Endites and labium yellowish-brown, bulging out medially, longer than wide. Sternum brown. Legs yellowish-brown without any pattern. Opisthosoma oval, yellowish-brown mottled with brown spots, dorsal lighter. Spinnerets yellowish-brown.
Palp (Fig. 2 A – C): Femur without row of strong spine, six times longer than wide. Patella slightly curved, three times longer than wide. Tibia base with 11 spines ventrally, with three trichobothria dorsally, one near cybium, two near patella, abreast. Two retrolateral tibial spines, dorsal spine shorter and darker than ventral spine, ventral spine semi-transparent, with a sharp and curved bending process apically. Tarsus unbranched, with a depression in the middle, apically blunt with dense of long setae. Bulb oval, almost 2.22 times longer than wide. Median sclerite transparent, blade-shaped, widest in the middle. Prolateral sclerite more sclerotised than median sclerite, straight laterally, but curved ventrally, needle-shaped. Conductor membranous, dorsal expanded in lateral view. Base of the embolus almost as wide as conductor, embolic tip strongly curved, sickle-shaped.
Female (paratype). Total length 2.23. Carapace 0.80 long, 0.69 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.07, PME 0.06, PLE 0.06, ALE – PME 0.08, PLE – PME 0.03, PLE – PLE 0.08, AER 0.14, PER 0.15. Clypeus 0.15 high. Chelicerae with eight promarginal and five retromarginal teeth. Leg measurements: I 5.31 (1.46, 0.23, 1.61, 1.22, 0.79), II 4.08 (1.16, 0.24, 1.13, 0.88, 0.67), III 3.51 (0.96, 0.23, 0.91, 0.83, 0.58), IV 4.59 (1.36, 0.20, 1.44, 1.11, 0.48). Palp 1.42 (0.48, 0.14, 0.33, 0.47). Opisthosoma 1.30 long, 0.88 wide.
Colouration (Fig. 4 B): Similar to that of male, except darker.
Internal genitalia (Fig. 3 A – C): Atrium rectangular, anterior margin of atrium flat. Pore plate oval, almost four times longer than wide. Spermathecae stalk without coiled, S-shaped. Spermathecae oval, heading dorsally, separated.
Diagnosis
Compared with the Chinese species, the male of Falcileptoneta taoqii sp. nov. is similar to F. lingqiensis (Chen, Shen & Gao, 1984) by the tibia base with dense strong spines (Fig. 2 A – C).
However, the males of the new species can be distinguished by the femur lacking a strong spine (Fig. 2 A – C) [vs. present in F. lingqiensis (see Chen et al. (1984): figs. 7–9)] and tibia almost as long as cybium (Fig. 2 A, C) [vs. shorter than the cybium in F. lingqiensis (see Chen et al. (1984): figs. 7 and 8)].
Compared with the South Korean species, the male of F. taoqii sp. nov. is similar to those of F. bifurca Seo, 2015, F. cormuta Seo, 2015, F. innuta Oh & Lee, 2023 and F. sunchangensis Seo, 2016 in two retrolateral tibial spines, prolateral sclerite sclerotised and needle-shaped and embolic tip narrowed and curved (Fig. 2 A and C). Females of the new species are similar to those of F. bifurca, F. innuta and F. sunchangensis in the flat anterior atrium margin (Fig. 3).
However, male of the new species can be distinguished by the tibia base with dense strong spines (Fig. 2 A – C) [vs. absent in F. bifurca, F. cormuta, F. innuta and F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): figs. 1 B, 2 H and F; Oh and Lee (2023): figs. 6 C, D and F; Seo (2016): fig. 4 H)], the tip of ventral retrolateral tibial spine curved (Fig. 2 B and C) [vs. straight in F. bifurca, F. cormuta and F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): figs. 1 B, 2 H and F; Seo (2016): fig. 4 H)], the median sclerite wide, almost 4.5 times longer than wide (Fig. 2 B) [vs. thin, almost ten times longer than wide in F. innuta (see Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 6 F)], the middle of the embolus unexpanded in retrolateral view (Fig. 2 C) [vs. expanded in F. bifurca and F. cormuta (see Seo (2015): figs. 1 B and 2 F)] and the length ratio of the embolus base to the embolus tip is 2: 1 in retrolateral view (Fig. 2 C) [vs. 3: 1 in F. bifurca and F. cormuta, 4: 1 in F. innuta and 3: 2 in F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): figs 1 B and 2 F; Seo (2016): fig. 4 H; Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 6 F)]. The female of new species can be distinguished by the pore plate almost four times longer than wide (Fig. 3 B) [vs. twice in F. innuta (see Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 7 C)], the spermathecae stalk uncoiled (Fig. 3 B and C) [vs. coiled once in F. bifurca and F. innuta (see Seo (2015): fig. 1 D; Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 7 C)] and spermathecae separated (Fig. 3 B and C) [vs. close to each other in F. bifurca and F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): fig. 1 D; Seo (2016): fig. 4 I)].
Etymology
The specific name is a patronym in honour of the collector Mr. Taoqi Wang, which is a noun (name) in the genitive case.
Distribution
Known only from the type locality (Fig. 5).
Biology
All specimens were collected under stones in a cave (Fig. 1).
DNA barcode
ATAAGAGTAATTATTCGAATTGAATTAGGTCAGGGGGGTAGATTGATTGGAAATGATCATTTGTATAATGTAATTGTAACTGGACATGCTTTTGTTATAATTTTTTTTATGGTTATGCCAATTTTGATTGGGGGGTTTGGTAATTGATTGGTTCCTTTAATAGTGGGAGCACCTGATATAGCTTTTCCTCGCATGAATAATTTAAGATTTTGGTTGTTGCCTCCTTCCTTGTTTTTGTTGGTTATTTCTTGCATAGTGGAGATGGGTGCAGGTACTGGATGAACTGTATATCCTCCTTTAGCTTCTTATTTAGGTCATTCGTGATTGTCTGTAGATTTTGTTATTTTTTCTTTACATTTGGCAGGAGCTTCTTCTATTATGGGTGCTATTAATTTTATTACTACTATTGTGAATATGCGTGTTCATGGGATGTATATGGATAGGGTTACTTTATTTGTTTGGTCAGTATTAATTACTGCCGTTTTATTATTACTTTCTTTACCTGTATTGGCTGGAGCTATTACAATATTACTTTCTGATCGTAATTTTAACACTTCTTTTTTTGACCCTGCGGGGGGGGGGGATCCTATTCTATTTCAGCATTTGTTTT (GenBank accession number PQ 777284).
description: Published as part of Yu, Hao, Xing, Yuanqian & Lin, Yejie, 2025, A new species of the genus Falcileptoneta Komatsu, 1970 (Araneae, Leptonetidae) from Jilin, China, pp. e 143433 in Biodiversity Data Journal 13 on page e143433, DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.13.e143433