Episinus implicatus Liang, Liu, Yin & Xu, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liang, Yun
name: Liu, Jinnan
name: Yin, Haiqiang
name: Xu, Xiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Theridiidae
Episinus
Episinus implicatus

description: Episinus implicatus sp. nov.
Materials
Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Jinxin Liu, Zongguang Huang, Yun Liang, Jinnan Liu and Yecheng Wu; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: E935EA98-5895-5F02-9626-ACC410D4A575; Taxon: scientificName: Episinus implicatus; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Yunnan; county: Mengla; verbatimLocality: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; verbatimElevation: 577 m; verbatimCoordinates: 21°55'0.67''N, 101°16'14.32''E; Event: year: 2023; month: 9; day: 30; Record Level: institutionID: HNU 869
Description
Female (Holotype): Total length 5.01, carapace 1.79 long, 1.47 wide, abdomen 3.22 long, 2.67 wide. Eye sizes and inter-distances: AME 0.14, ALE 0.14, PME 0.12, PLE 0.12; AME-AME 0.09, AME-ALE 0.03, PME-PME 0.08, PME-PLE 0.08. Clypeus height 0.28. STL 1.05, STW 0.88. Legs measurements: I 8.78 (2.37, 0.81, 1.89, 2.80, 0.91); II 5.65 (1.66, 0.74, 1.08, 1.55 0.62); III 4.42 (1.29, 0.58, 0.79, 1.15, 0.61); IV 9.12 (2.64, 0.94, 1.84, 2.80, 0.91). Leg formula IV-I-II-III.
Colouration (Fig. 3 A – C): Carapace pear-shaped, yellow-brown. Fovea and radial furrow brown, deep (Fig. 3 A). Eyes area slightly elevated. Chelicerae light brown, without teeth. Pedipalp brown. Endite longer than wide. Labium extending, nearly rectangular. Sternum longer than wide, lateral margins sinuous and brown (Fig. 3 B). Legs brown, except for pale trochanters III-IV, femur III and basal half of femur IV. Abdomen brown, dorsum with two white arcuate stripes anteriorly (Fig. 3 A), venter brown, except the pale posterolateral region and a slightly arched white line before spinnerets Fig. 3 B); pentagonal-shaped, with widest part at three quarters of abdominal length (Fig. 3 A) and with short hump on each side as seen in lateral view (Fig. 3 C).
Epigyne (Fig. 3 D and Fig. 4 A): with deep and relatively large atria (A) separated by a sclerotised median septum. Vulva (Fig. 3 E – F and 4 B): copulatory ducts (CD) extremely long, coiling around spermathecae for approximately six loops and with two additional loops as seen in posterior view (Fig. 3 F). Spermathecae (S) longitudinally elongated, with contracted middle portions. Fertilisation ducts (FD) originating from inside side of basal spermathecae.
Male. Unknown.
Diagnosis
This new species can be easily distinguished from those of all known Episinus species by extremely long copulatory ducts circling around spermathecae for approximately six loops (Fig. 3 E-F and Fig. 4 B).
Etymology
The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word “ implicatus ”, meaning “ coiled ” and referring to the shape of copulatory ducts (coiling around spermathecae for approximately six loops) and is an adjective, masculine.
Distribution
Known only from the type locality, China (Yunnan) (Fig. 9).
description: Published as part of Liang, Yun, Liu, Jinnan, Yin, Haiqiang & Xu, Xiang, 2025, On new spider species of the genus Episinus (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China and proposal of five species groups, pp. e 144222 in Biodiversity Data Journal 13 on page e144222, DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.13.e144222