Wolongia papafrancisi Malamel & Nafin & Sankaran & Sebastian 2018, new species
Creators: name: Malamel, Jobi J.
name: Nafin, Karunnappilli Shamsudheen
name: Sankaran, Pradeep M.
name: Sebastian, Pothalil A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Tetragnathidae
Wolongia
Wolongia papafrancisi

description: Wolongia papafrancisi new species (Figs. 1–3)
Types. Holotype male (ADSH9847A), INDIA: Kerala: Alappuzha, Pathiramanal Island, 9o37'07.11''N, 76o23'04.95''E, 4 m Elev., 24 November 2015, Jobi J Malamel & Jimmy Paul, leg., from foliage, by hand. Two female paratypes (ADSH9847B), same data as holotype except 5 October 2015.
Etymology. This species is dedicated to Pope Francis, the present reigning Pope of the Catholic Church in honour of his great contributions as an environmental conservationist.
Diagnosis. Males of W. papafrancisi n. sp. are most similar to the males of Wolongia bicruris Wan & Peng, 2013, but can be separated from the latter by the following combination of features: narrow cymbial ectobasal process without bifurcation (W. bicruris with large cymbial ectobasal process with apical bifurcation), posteriorly oriented cymbial ectomedian process (W. bicruris with anteriorly oriented cymbial ectomedian process), small, mount-like paracymbium (paracymbium in W. bicruris long, with knob like apical part) conductor with apical bifurcation (conductor in W. bicruris with apical twist) and embolus not masked by conductor (W. bicruris with embolus being masked by conductor) (compare Figs 1E–I, 3A–C with Wan & Peng 2013: fig. 5A–C). Females of W. papafrancisi n. sp. can be easily distinguished from the females of all other described Wolongia species by the presence of a secondary spermathecae beside the true spermathecae (compare Figs 2F, 3E with Wan & Peng 2013: figs 6F, 10C, 12C, 14C, 18F, 22B, 26C, 28D, 32E, 34C).
Description. Male (holotype (ADSH9847A), Figs. 1A–D). Carapace, eye field, maxillae, labium, sternum, legs straw coloured. Carapace with paired longitudinal, black patches, one on each side of cephalic part. Eyes black. Chelicerae creamy; promargin with three teeth, retromargin without teeth. Maxillae, labium with black shades. Sternum with black border. Legs with black shades particularly on tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi, covered with short macrosetae more prominent on metatarsi and tarsi, but venter of femur I lacks rows of macrosetae (Fig. 1C). Opisthosoma oval, creamy with anterior part being overhanging on thoracic part; dorsum medially with two pairs of sigillae, medio-laterally with longitudinally arranged irregular silvery-white patches, postero-laterally with discontinuous longitudinal rows of black patches; venter with a median, broad, pale blackpatch. Body length 1.57. Prosoma length 0.74, width 0.71. Opisthosoma length 0.83, width 0.63. Eye diameters: ALE 0.07. AME 0.07. PLE 0.08. PME 0.08. Eye interdistances: AME–ALE 0.03.AME–AME 0.02. PME–PLE 0.03. PME–PME 0.04. Clypeus height at ALEs 0.07, at AMEs 0.02. Chelicerae length0.24. Measurements of pedipalp and legs. Pedipalp (right) 0.82 [0.29, 0.09, 0.16, 0.28], I 3.81 [1.13, 0.38, 0.84, 0.97, 0.49], II 3.43 [0.98, 0.34, 0.74, 0.93, 0.44], III 2.13 [0.52, 0.21, 0.37, 0.65, 0.38], IV 3.24 [0.95, 0.32, 0.81, 0.76, 0.40]. Leg formula: 1243. Pedipalp (Figs 1E–I, 3A–C). Cymbium baso-prolaterally provided with a small denticle (Figs 1E, 3C); cymbial ectobasal process narrow hook-like, with angular tip (Figs. 1E, I, 3A–C); cymbial ectomedian process roughly triangular, pointing posteriorly (Figs. 1E, 3C). Paracymbium reduced, mount like. Bulb circular in ventral view (Figs. 1H, 3B); tegulum small, occupying medio-apical part of bulb (Figs. 1H, 3B); subtegulum prominent occupying half of the bulb (Figs. 1I, 3A). Conductor broad, elongated, originating apical to bulb, with basal twist, with apical bifurcation (Figs. 1G–H, 3A–B). Embolus long, filiform, arising apically to bulb, with a basal twist, distal half lying away from conductor, directed at one o’clock in ventral view (Figs. 1F–I, 3A–B).
Female (paratype ADSH9847B, Fig. 2A–C). Like male except the following: Opisthosoma with irregularly scattered silvery-white patches on dorsum and laterals; medio-lateral longitudinal rows of black patches complete; venter with a pair of longitudinal discontinuous stripes of silvery-white spots. Cheliceral promargin with three teeth, retromargin with two teeth; Body length 2.53. Prosoma length 1.03, width 0.75. Opisthosoma length 1.5, width 0.96. Eye diameters: ALE 0.09. AME 0.08. PLE 0.09. PME 0.08. Eye interdistances: AME–ALE 0.04. AME–AME 0.02. PME–PLE 0.02. PME–PME 0.03. Clypeus height at ALEs 0.09, at AMEs 0.03. Chelicerae length0.46; Measurements of palp and legs. Palp (right) 1.04 [0.33, 0.14, 0.20, 0.38], I 3.81 [1.13, 0.38, 0.84, 0.97, 0.49], II 3.43 [0.98, 0.34, 0.74, 0.93, 0.44], III 2.13 [0.52, 0.21, 0.37, 0.65, 0.38], IV 3.24 [0.95, 0.32, 0.81, 0.76, 0.40]. Leg formula: 1243. Epigynum (Figs. 2D–F, 3D–E). Simple, with a median triangular and lateral roughly rectangular plates (Figs. 2D–E, 3D). Copulatory openings narrow, medially placed, lying on each side of the median triangular plate (Fig. 3D). Vulvae consist of pear-shaped secondary spermathecae and roughly oval, shrunken true spermathecae, both are bridged through narrow, short copulatory ducts (Figs. 2F, 3E). Secondary spermathecae lying near to the copulatory openings, slightly larger than true spermathecae (Fig. 3E). Fertilization duct short, confronting each other, adjacent to true spermathecae (Fig. 3E).
Distribution. India, Kerala (Pathiramanal Island) (Fig. 4).
description: Published as part of Malamel, Jobi J., Nafin, Karunnappilli Shamsudheen, Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2018, First record of the spider genus Wolongia Zhu, Kim & Song, 1997 from India with the description of a new species (Araneae, Tetragnathidae), pp. 145-150 in Zootaxa 4407 (1) on pages 146-149, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4407.1.13, http://zenodo.org/record/1216476